header-logo header-logo

Judge highlights perils of fake cases

14 May 2025
Issue: 8116 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Artificial intelligence
printer mail-detail
Mr Justice Ritchie has reminded lawyers ‘it is wholly improper to put fake cases in a pleading’, in R (Ayinde) v London Borough of Haringey [2025] EWHC 1040 (Admin). 

Five fictitious case citations were discovered in the claimant’s pleadings. Ritchie J was particularly scathing about the solicitors’ description of these as ‘minor citation errors’ and ‘cosmetic errors’.

He was unable to make a finding that artificial intelligence hallucinations were to blame, but ordered the legal team, a very junior barrister from 3 Bolt Court instructed by Haringey Law Centre, be referred to their regulators and pay wasted costs. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Corporate governance and company law specialist joins the team

Excello Law—Heather Horsewood & Darren Barwick

Excello Law—Heather Horsewood & Darren Barwick

North west team expands with senior private client and property hires

Ward Hadaway—Paul Wigham

Ward Hadaway—Paul Wigham

Firm boosts corporate team in Newcastle to support high-growth technology businesses

NEWS

NOTICE UNDER THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925

HERBERT SMITH STAFF PENSION SCHEME (THE “SCHEME”)

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER SECTION 27 OF THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925
Law firm HFW is offering clients lawyers on call for dawn raids, sanctions issues and other regulatory emergencies
From gender-critical speech to notice periods and incapability dismissals, employment law continues to turn on fine distinctions. In his latest employment law brief for NLJ, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School reviews a cluster of recent decisions, led by Bailey v Stonewall, where the Court of Appeal clarified the limits of third-party liability under the Equality Act
Non-molestation orders are meant to be the frontline defence against domestic abuse, yet their enforcement often falls short. Writing in NLJ this week, Jeni Kavanagh, Jessica Mortimer and Oliver Kavanagh analyse why the criminalisation of breach has failed to deliver consistent protection
Assisted dying remains one of the most fraught fault lines in English law, where compassion and criminal liability sit uncomfortably close. Writing in NLJ this week, Julie Gowland and Barny Croft of Birketts examine how acts motivated by care—booking travel, completing paperwork, or offering emotional support—can still fall within the wide reach of the Suicide Act 1961
back-to-top-scroll