Editorial illustration for AI tools aid lawyers as courts limit expert reports, say practitioners
AI Tools Rescue Legal Experts Amid Court Testimony Limits
AI tools aid lawyers as courts limit expert reports, say practitioners
The legal system adores procedure. It despises extra bills. So when a coroner refuses to pay for an outside expert, a lawyer is usually stuck. Now, they're turning to the one consultant that doesn't invoice: an AI chatbot.
So when the coroner declined his request for an independent expert report, Searle was frustrated. Instead, he turned to another resource that is proving increasingly useful in the chronically underfunded coroners' courts: AI. "Deaths that go to inquests are there because they are a shock.
What families want is to increase their understanding as to how their loved one has died," says Searle. "My use of ChatGPT allowed my questions to be more focused on the technical aspects of the surgery and help fill the gaps left by not having experts to call upon." Searle, 35, is at pains to emphasize that he does not put any client data or information into the AI tools he uses, and vets all of the information and citations the bot spits out.
This isn't a revolution. It's grunt work automation for a profession drowning in it. Court budgets are being squeezed everywhere.
Take expert reports: costly, time-consuming, and a prime target for cuts. Lawyers like John Searle are quietly weaving large language models into their practice. They draft discovery, summarize depositions, formulate questions.
The model suggests and organizes. It does not think. The ethical line for practitioners is clear: never trust, always verify.
The work product is yours; the bot just typed. Here, AI is less a magic wand and more a piece of procedural duct tape on a cracked system. It fills a gap created by scarcity.
For a family in a coroner's court, that gap is the distance between confusion and comprehension. A well-prompted machine can sometimes bridge it.
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Common Questions Answered
How are AI tools like ChatGPT helping lawyers navigate limitations on expert reports in coroners' courts?
AI tools are providing lawyers with alternative ways to gather technical information when expert reports are declined by courts. These tools can help generate focused questions, parse medical literature, and provide quick references that might otherwise require expensive specialist input.
What challenges do coroners' courts face when it comes to expert testimony?
Coroners' courts are experiencing significant budget constraints and increased demand for technical explanations. This has led to courts tightening restrictions on expert testimony, leaving many inquests without the specialist insights that families typically seek.
What motivates lawyers like Searle to use AI in coroners' court proceedings?
Lawyers are turning to AI to help families better understand the technical circumstances of unexpected deaths when traditional expert reports are unavailable. The technology offers a cost-effective way to generate focused technical insights and potential lines of questioning during inquests.
Further Reading
- New UK court rules limit expert witness reports to 20 pages in many ... — La Touche Training
- NLJ this week: When are experts truly 'necessary'? — New Law Journal
- Public Domain Documents Pilot Launch | 1st January 2026 — Expert Witness Institute
- Woolf - a year on - The use of experts — CMS Law
