My solicitor’s AI made a mistake

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly prevalent in all aspects of daily life, including in professional services, it is no surprise that its use by law firms continues to increase. It is now commonplace to see solicitors, barristers, and other legal advisors using AI in an attempt to reduce workload and improve productivity.

In a landmark case, we have seen the first recorded instance of AI winning a legal dispute in the English courts. An AI known as “Garfield” is reported to have conducted all legal preparations for a claimant’s debt recovery claim, which led to the judge finding in favour of the claimant.

This and similar cases reflect not only the breadth of AI’s adoption amongst firms within the legal industry but also demonstrate that firms are increasingly reliant upon AI to assist with all aspects of their work, including work that has, until now, been reserved for humans with legal qualifications.

Proponents of AI’s integration have used these examples to argue that AI can now be trusted to take on ever more complex legal work, and that professionals in the legal industry are quickly becoming at risk of being displaced. However, as artificial intelligence’s application with the legal sector grows, so too does the rising number of legal disputes based on mistakes attributable to AI, along with an increase in the number of accusations of negligent reliance on AI by solicitors.

In the case of Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey and Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank, the claimant’s legal team made submissions on behalf of their client to the court. Upon review by the court, it was discovered that the AI the claimant’s legal team had relied upon to help prepare the submissions had fabricated five ‘hallucinated’ cases.

Ayinde is one particularly high-profile example, but it is not the only one of its kind, and law firms of all sizes have been caught out for blindly trusting the output of artificial intelligence without proper checks being made. Prominent international firm Pinsent Masons, for instance, was found just this year to have relied on an erroneous AI output in the case of Cork v Smith [2026] EWHC 1199 (Ch).

So, if your solicitor’s AI has made a mistake, what can you do about it? Can compensation be claimed?

The court’s position on a law firm’s use of AI has been made transparently clear: a legal professional may use AI to assist their work, even substantive legal work, but they then have a professional duty to verify the accuracy of that content. If a law firm fails to do so, then the court will probably consider this a breach of the firm’s duty of care to its client. If a mistake causes the client financial loss, this should now be expected to give rise to a claim for recovery in professional negligence.

As reliance on AI continues to grow, it is likely that claims arising from solicitors’ negligent reliance upon AI will similarly increase.

Arrange a free consultation with a No Win, No Fee professional negligence solicitor

If you believe that your solicitors have used artificial intelligence negligently, our top rated professional negligence solicitors will be happy to offer you a free consultation. They will assess your case and offer specialist guidance on recovering compensation from your solicitor.

We will also look at the funding options available to you and will be happy to consider whether we can deal with the solicitors’ negligence claim on a No Win, No Fee basis.

Call 0333 888 0403 or email us at info@proneg.co.uk.