AI legal advice is driving lawyers bananas; Axios, February 9, 2026

 Emily Peck, Axios; AI legal advice is driving lawyers bananas

"AI promises to make work more productive for lawyers, but there's a problem: Their clients are using it, too.

Why it matters: The rise of AI is creating new headaches for attorneys: They're worried about the fate of the billable hour, a reliable profit center for aeons, and are perturbed by clients getting bad legal advice from chatbots.

Zoom in: "It's like the WebMD effect on steroids," says Dave Jochnowitz, a partner at the law firm Outten & Golden, referring to how medical websites can give people a misguided understanding of their condition."

Lawyer sets new standard for abuse of AI; judge tosses case; Ars Technica, February 6, 2026

 ASHLEY BELANGER , Ars Technica; Lawyer sets new standard for abuse of AI; judge tosses case

"Frustrated by fake citations and flowery prose packed with “out-of-left-field” references to ancient libraries and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a New York federal judge took the rare step of terminating a case this week due to a lawyer’s repeated misuse of AI when drafting filings.

In an order on Thursday, District Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that the extraordinary sanctions were warranted after an attorney, Steven Feldman, kept responding to requests to correct his filings with documents containing fake citations."

US judge facing competency probe asks court to block her suspension; Reuters, June 27, 2023

Blake Brittain , Reuters; US judge facing competency probe asks court to block her suspension

"Judge Pauline Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit asked a Washington, D.C., district court on Tuesday for an order revoking her suspension from hearing cases amid an investigation into her competency and conduct.

The 96-year-old judge said in a court filing that her suspension without a misconduct finding is unconstitutional and repeated her argument that she is fit to serve, citing a recent neurological exam that she said "revealed no significant cognitive deficits.""