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Are more clients turning to artificial intelligence for legal advice?
February 9, 2026, 9:48 am CST
Lawyers who worry about artificial intelligence and its potential pitfalls are pointing to another problem—its increasing use by their clients. (Image from Shutterstock)
Lawyers who worry about artificial intelligence and its potential pitfalls are pointing to another problem—its increasing use by their clients.
Dave Jochnowitz, a partner at Outten & Golden, likened the unfolding situation to people’s reliance on the internet for medical advice, Axios reports.
“It’s like the WebMD effect on steroids,” he told the news website.
“ChatGPT is telling them, ‘You got a killer case,’” Jochnowitz also said.
But lawyers told Axios that large language models such as ChatGPT often don’t understand the full history of cases or the laws that apply to them.
In addition to potentially providing clients with bad legal advice, AI could impact the billable hour, lawyers also told Axios. If technology speeds up some tasks, they ultimately could end up charging less for their work.
“There are going to be some big claims about what can be done,” J.H. “Rip” Verkerke, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, told Axios.
He is among observers who say the legal profession won’t be disrupted any time soon.
“A lot of them will turn out to be vaporware,” he added.
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