Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey; Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank
referral
The landmark England and Wales ruling on AI-fabricated citations: in joined cases, the Divisional Court invoked the Hamid jurisdiction over submissions containing non-existent authorities, referred a barrister to the BSB and solicitors to the SRA, and warned that the court's restraint on contempt should not be read as precedent.
- Date of decision/order
- 2025-06-06
- Court
- High Court of England and Wales (Divisional Court)
- Jurisdiction
- UK
- AI tool
- Not identified in the record
- Conduct
- Submissions in two joined cases contained fabricated or misstated authorities apparently derived from generative AI; the Divisional Court used the Hamid jurisdiction to address the conduct of the lawyers involved.
- Consequence
- See outcome
- Regulatory outcome
- BSB / SRA: Barrister referred to the Bar Standards Board; solicitors referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The court found the contempt threshold capable of being met but did not initiate proceedings, warning that leniency should not be treated as precedent. (2025-06-06)
Sources
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Cite this incident
SafeLegalAI Global Legal AI Incident Tracker, "Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey; Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank", safelegalai.com/tracker/ayinde-v-haringey (accessed 2026-07-16). Data: CC BY 4.0.