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The insider: 6 June 2025

221403
More oi oi than AI: Dominic Regan on fake citations, succinct judgments & bewildering costs

On the day before his birthday, Sir Andrew Ritchie heard and gave judgment in the bizarre case of R (on the application of Frederick Ayinde) v Haringey London Borough Council [2025] EWHC 1040 (Admin). I have no doubt that reams will be dedicated to this matter, but nevertheless I want to make a few comments.

This is the infamous judicial review in which no less than five fake authorities were cited to the defendant and the High Court. There is no accepted explanation as to where these cases originated. Who or what created them? The finger is pointed at artificial intelligence (AI). No one should ever be citing authorities without first checking their provenance. Dare I say it is also a mighty good idea to read them? No matter how brilliant the headnote, there is no substitute for reading the entire decision within which there might just be buried treasure. The seminal authority

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NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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