AI isn’t just changing how lawyers practice. Now, it’s making its way into judicial opinions, too.
In a recent study, attorney Josh Morrow ran roughly 2,250 published federal appellate opinions from 2026 through an AI-detection tool. More than 50 showed signs of AI-generated writing. As a baseline, he tested more than 300 published circuit opinions from January 2022; the detector flagged none. Morrow is careful not to claim that the results conclusively establish AI use, but they offer evidence that some federal appellate chambers may already be using AI in the drafting process.
And the study may capture only part of what is happening. AI can also be used to brainstorm, research, outline, critique drafts, or test counterarguments—uses that may leave little trace in the final opinion.
For lawyers, that raises a new set of practical questions. How should we read and evaluate opinions that may have been AI-assisted? Does AI change the way we think about legal writing, precedent, research, or the arguments we present to courts? And as courts begin adopting their own AI tools and agents, how should advocates adapt?
Those are exactly the kinds of questions we’ll be tackling at Bellwether AI Litigator, September 17–18.
We’re excited to announce a new addition to the program: Ross Guberman, one of the country’s leading authorities on legal writing and CEO of Briefcatch who will join us to talk about legal writing, AI agents, and what lawyers need to know as AI becomes part of the legal process.
Ross joins Shlomo Klapper who develops AI products for courts, along with our other Bellwether panelists for practical discussions about what AI in courts looks like now—and how lawyers should respond.
AI has entered the building. The question is what we do with it.
Join us at Bellwether AI Litigator, September 17–18. Sign up now.
Register here 👉🏻 https://bellwether-ai-litigator.vercel.app/
We’d like to thank Smith.ai for sponsoring Bellwether AI Litigator and helping make this event possible. Learn more about Smith.ai.