Incident Tracker

Northbound Processing (Pty) Ltd v South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator (2025/072038) [2025] ZAGPJHC 661

referral

In this Gauteng High Court (South Africa) urgent mining-licence application, counsel's heads of argument cited fake authorities generated by the AI tool 'Legal Genius'. Smit AJ granted Northbound interim relief but, invoking the Article 16(1) reporting duty, referred the practitioners to the Legal Practice Council — the second such South African referral after Mavundla.

Date of decision/order

2025-06-30

Court

High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Johannesburg

Jurisdiction

SOUTH-AFRICA

AI tool

Legal Genius

Conduct

In heads of argument for an urgent licensing application, counsel cited non-existent authorities hallucinated by the AI tool 'Legal Genius', which claimed to be trained exclusively on South African law. Asked directly, counsel confirmed they appeared to be AI hallucinations. Smit AJ invoked the Article 16(1) judicial duty to report serious misconduct.

Consequence

See outcome

Regulatory outcome

Legal Practice Council (Gauteng Provincial Office): The court referred the practitioners to the Legal Practice Council (Gauteng) for investigation, invoking the Article 16(1) reporting duty under the Code of Judicial Conduct; the LPC disposition is pending. (2025-06-30)