AI in Legal Research: Precision Without the ‘Phantom Cases’
Practical guardrails UK solicitors can use to prevent hallucinated citations and keep research robust, efficient and court-ready.
Research is where AI can shine — and where it can stumble. Large language models (LLMs) sometimes produce invented case citations (“hallucinations”). That risk is manageable with the right process. This post sets out a simple five-step verification workflow, a few team habits, and a reusable checklist you can adopt today.
Why hallucinations happen
LLMs generate plausible text based on patterns; they don’t inherently “know” if a citation exists. Given a prompt that invites a case reference, an LLM may create one that looks credible. That can waste time — or worse, risk breaching duties to the court.
A five-step verification workflow
- Ask for sources up front. In prompts, require neutral citations and links to authoritative sources.
- Trust but verify. Check each citation on your official services (ICLR/BAILII/Lexis/Westlaw as licensed).
- Record a source log. Short table for each memo: proposition → authority → link → who verified/when.
- Separate “ideas” from “authorities.” Draft with AI if useful, but build final reasoning only from verified authorities.
- Flag uncertainty. If authority is thin, mark that clearly and suggest alternate lines of enquiry.
Team habits that reduce risk
- Prompt patterns. Maintain a library of pre-approved prompts.
- Red / Amber / Green labels. Red = unverified; Amber = verified citation only; Green = verified and read in full.
- Named reviewer. Structural checks beat ad-hoc spot checks.
A reusable checklist (paste into your matter template)
- Each authority located on an approved database
- Neutral citation matches court/year
- Pinpoint references confirmed
- Source log updated
- Reviewer initials/date added
Where OrdoLux fits
OrdoLux's AI Research engine applies this logic so as to reduce the risk of 'phantom cases'.
This article is general information for practitioners — not legal advice.
Looking for legal case management software?
OrdoLux is legal case management software for UK solicitors, designed around accurate time capture, Outlook integration, and solicitor-friendly billing and reporting. If you're reviewing your tooling, you can learn more about OrdoLux legal case management software.