Justice Secretary David Lammy to push for more use of AI in courts

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy is to push for more use of artificial intelligence (AI) to cut court backlogs.

The Justice Secretary will give a speech at the Microsoft AI Tour in London on Tuesday where he is expected to back digital modernisation across the courts system, including greater use of AI.

As part of his report on fixing the criminal justice system, Sir Brian Leveson has suggested courts could rely on AI summaries of witness statements when they are taking case management decisions.

Sir Brian, a retired Court of Appeal judge, is the architect of controversial proposals to scale back the right to jury trials which the Government has adopted despite opposition from Labour backbenchers and legal groups.

Concerns have been raised about the dangers of ramping up the use of AI.

Last month, a review into the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from attending a football match against Aston Villa last November found an “AI hallucination” produced by Microsoft Copilot had helped police justify the move.

The error meant that a non-existent game between Tel Aviv and West Ham had been referenced in a report produced by the police force prior to the game.

The Law Society of England and Wales has said it has “reservations” about the use of AI in the court system.

Vice president Brett Dixon said: “We support modernising the justice system and adopting new technology, provided it enhances access to justice, is reliable and ensures fairness.

“AI is not, however, a silver bullet to improve the justice system. It might help to ease some administrative pressures, but it is not a replacement for much-needed investment in the court estate and additional court staff.

“We have reservations about some of the recommended uses of AI tools. For example, interpretation requires human involvement to ensure that subtleties and cultural nuances are captured accurately. Without this, errors or misrepresentation of evidence could occur which could have serious and unjust outcomes, and risk miscarriages of justice.”

Settlement

Elsewhere, the Government and the judiciary have agreed a £2.785 billion settlement for courts and tribunals for 2026/27, up from £2.538 billion last year.

It means the limit on the number of crown court sitting days can be lifted, the Ministry of Justice said.

A further £287 million will also be invested into fixing the crumbling court estate itself.

Mr Lammy said: “This Government inherited a justice system on the brink of collapse with victims facing unacceptable delays and we took immediate action to increase sitting days to deliver fairer and faster justice for victims.

“But victims still face intolerable delays. That is why I have agreed with the judiciary to fund unlimited sitting days in the crown court next year so they can sit at their maximum and so we can turn the tide on the backlog as quickly as possible.

“Investment alone will not be enough to deliver timely justice – which is why it has to be combined with our pragmatic reforms and modernisation.”