- 1 Jun 2026
- Law Blog
When you are going through a legal matter, wanting to understand the relevant law, its processes and what your solicitor can achieve is entirely reasonable and the temptation to use AI tools including Chat GPT, Co-pilot and Claude to access this type of information, understandable.
Curiosity is something we genuinely welcome and in our experience, an engaged client is a real asset. The best outcomes tend to form from close collaborations between clients and their legal team, built on open questions, shared information and a spirit of involvement.
However, we have also seen how AI-generated legal information, used without the context of a specific case, can sometimes lead things in an unhelpful direction and we want to explain why.
AI knows the law. It does not know your circumstances
AI tools are trained on published legal material - statutes, judgments, textbooks and articles. They can summarise legal principles clearly and confidently. What they cannot do is apply those principles to your particular circumstances, because they have no access to the details that make your case yours - the timeline of events, the documents, the communications, the history between the parties and the many small facts that turn out to matter a great deal.
When a legal question is put to an AI bot, the answer it gives is based on a hypothetical version of that question - not on your actual situation. The result can look authoritative but rests on assumptions that simply do not match your case. Your legal team, by contrast, are highly trained in both the law and its strategic application, have read your file, asked you questions and built their advice around what is actually in front of them.
Common pitfalls of relying on AI-generated legal information:
- Wrong jurisdiction - AI may cite law from a different country, region, or court tier to yours;
- Outdated authority - statutes change and cases are overturned. AI may rely on outdated law”.;
- Missing context - subtle factual differences between your situation and the AI’s example can change the outcome entirely;
- False confidence - fluent, assured language can create a sense of certainty where the legal position is actually uncertain.
Pursuing the wrong path adds up quickly
We understand that legal costs are a real concern and we always aim to use your time and money as efficiently as possible. When a case strategy shifts to accommodate an argument drawn from generic AI research, one that does not hold up once your actual facts are applied, your legal team has to spend time working through why it does not fit before getting back on track. Those are hours that could have been spent moving your matter forward.
It is also worth noting that AI-generated research can sometimes give clients an overly optimistic picture of their position. That can make it harder to evaluate settlement offers fairly, or lead to decisions that feel justified in the moment but are difficult to walk back later. We would much rather have an honest conversation with you about the strengths and weaknesses of your case than have you find out the hard way that the AI’s reading of the situation was too good to be true.
There is more to legal advice than knowing the law
Good legal strategy involves a lot more than identifying an applicable law. It means weighing up the likely response from the other side, understanding what a judge or tribunal tends to look for, balancing the cost of different approaches against their likely benefit, and keeping your own priorities - whether that is speed, cost, a particular outcome, or preserving a relationship - at the centre of every decision.
When your solicitor advises against a particular argument, it is rarely because they have not considered it. More often, they have weighed it against everything they know about your matter and concluded it does not serve you well. That kind of contextual judgement is exactly what you are paying for and it is something no general-purpose AI tool can replicate, however polished its output looks.
You are always welcome to ask us to explain our reasoning, explore alternatives, or walk through the risks of different approaches. The more we can work through those questions together, based on the actual details of your case, the better placed we will be to get you the outcome you are looking for.