The Civil Justice Council launched a consultation in February 2026 on mandatory AI-use declarations for statements of case and skeleton arguments, with responses due April 14, 2026. The Judiciary issued updated guidance on AI hallucinations and bias in October 2025. Courts have signaled potential sanctions including contempt findings, perverting the course of justice charges, and regulatory penalties against legal professionals. No specific AI vendors have been named in the decisions.
Attorneys should expect imminent procedural rules requiring disclosure of AI use in document preparation. The consultation deadline is days away, making rule changes likely by mid-2026. For litigators, the risk is acute: courts now actively scrutinize citations and will penalize reliance on AI-generated authorities. The safer practice is manual verification of every case citation against primary sources before filing, and explicit disclosure of any AI involvement in document drafting.