By Dylan Bettencourt
- Lawyers for a precious metals firm are under investigation by the Legal Practice Council because they used fake case citations from an AI tool.
- The court warned that AI can invent legal cases that sound real, and lawyers must always verify their work.
A team of lawyers is in trouble after the Gauteng High Court discovered they had used fake court cases generated by artificial intelligence in official legal documents.
The legal team was representing Northbound Processing, a precious metals firm, in a licensing dispute when the mistake was discovered.
Two citations in their heads of argument turned out to be completely made up, News24 reported.
Acting Judge DJ Smit said the lawyers did not intend to mislead the court but still referred the matter to the Legal Practice Council for a misconduct investigation.
Junior counsel Giles Barclay-Beuthin admitted he had used an online AI tool and failed to check the cases it produced. He said he was under pressure to meet a deadline.
By the time the opposing legal team flagged the mistake, it was already too late. Senior counsel Arnold Subel told the court he had only done a quick “sense-check” and had not spotted the fake citations. He apologised in court.
Judge Smit warned that even accidental use of AI-generated content can amount to professional misconduct. He said such tools can “confidently make up” fake legal cases that look genuine, and it’s up to lawyers to confirm everything they submit.
Despite the issue, Northbound Processing still won its case and was granted its refining licence.
A similar case is under investigation in Pietermaritzburg, where a legal team submitted seven fake cases generated by AI.
Pictured above: A court gavel.
Image source: File
