@buttondown.com.lawyerexmachina@rss-parrot.net
I'm an automated parrot! I relay a website's RSS feed to the Fediverse. Every time a new post appears in the feed, I toot about it. Follow me to get all new posts in your Mastodon timeline! Brought to you by the RSS Parrot.
---
## Welcome to Lawyer Ex Machina. *About the newsletter*: This is a weekly newsletter focusing on legal technology, law practice and selected issues around big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, social media and more affecting both the substance and the business of law. Each issue, for the time being, will be short, bullet-pointed items leading to online stories in a variety of media. There will be occasional links to sources behind paywalls - if you do not have personal subscriptions, you may want to reach out to an institutional or public library to see if you can access that story. The primary audience for this newsletter is the community of UCLA School of Law, but everyone is welcome to subscribe. *About the editor*: Eli Edwards (that's me) is a reference librarian within the School of Law at UCLA. I am interested in how legal technology and innovation is changing (and not changing) the business of law and how to prepare students for a world where big data affects people's rights, responsibilities and liabilities, as well as expanding the tools available to practice law effectively and efficiently. I had a similar newsletter while working at Santa Clara University School of Law called [Strangelaw, Esq.](https://tinyletter.com/misseli/archive) This newsletter is not an official publication of the University of California, UCLA or the School of Law. My opinions and editorial choices are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. My [Twitter account](https://twitter.com/miss_eli) does touch on professional issues, including legal technology and law librarianship. Any other social media where you may find me is likely to be personal and not focus on professional topics.
Site URL: buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina
Feed URL: buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/rss
Posts: 30
Followers: 1
Happy Spring Break
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/happy-spring-break/
Published: March 19, 2026 19:51
AI A witness on the stand in a UK court case was found to have been receiving coaching on his testimony via his smart glasses [LegalFutures UK | BBC | 404 Media ($)] The LA Superior Court is launching a pilot program that will give judges accessed to an AI…
Full to Bursting
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/full-to-bursting/
Published: March 12, 2026 18:58
AI Data labelers and other workers helping to train (and in some instances, pretend to be) AI are organizing in Nairobi for better working conditions and pay [404 Media ($) | Data Workers’ Inquiry (content warning - includes descriptions of working with…
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Hallucinations?
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-hallucinations/
Published: March 5, 2026 20:03
AI Two proposed solutions to AI fabrications in court filings: Shay Elbaum: Require self-represented litigants and attorneys to attach copies of unpublished cases when they are cited in a filingOliver Roberts [$]: Require mandatory reporting of AI-related…
Guardrails and workflows
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/guardrails-and-workflows/
Published: February 26, 2026 20:02
AI The Department of Defense and Anthropic are in a tense stand-off over Claude’s guardrails, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth threatening to revoke Anthropic’s contract and blacklist it from government work [CNN | NY Times ($) | TechPolicy Press |…
Can AI Do This Newsletter? (Well, yes)
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/can-ai-do-this-newsletter-well-yes/
Published: February 19, 2026 21:44
AI Judge Jed Rakoff, who ruled on whether a defendant’s use of an AI chatbot to discuss legal issues was covered by privilege or work product doctrine, has issued a written memorandum explaining his reasoning From Law.com [$]: “In Opinion Footnote, 5th…
Attorney Discipline
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/attorney-discipline/
Published: February 12, 2026 22:45
AI A Wisconsin judge has sanctioned the District Attorney of Kenosha County in two related criminal cases, for submitting filings that included fictitious citations [CBS | Wisconsin Public Radio] A New York attorney has been publicly censured by the NY…
Coworking
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/coworking/
Published: February 5, 2026 20:09
This is satire (we hope) - Princeton doesn’t have a law review or even a law school AI Anthropic released a series of ‘knowledge work plugins’ to use with its no-code agentic app, Claude Cowork (Mac only so far), one specifically for typical legal tasks…
Happy Data Privacy Week
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/happy-data-privacy-week/
Published: January 29, 2026 20:03
AI The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced plans to integrate AI drafting of regulations into its rulemaking process, making the agency “the first agency that is fully enabled to use AI to draft rules” [ProPublica] | Ars Technica]The European…
Happy Holidays 2025
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/happy-holidays-2025/
Published: December 11, 2025 20:42
[Ed. note: this is my last newsletter of the year. Thank you for reading and supporting Lawyer Ex Machina, and I anticipate returning in late January 2026. Have a joyous holiday season and Happy New Year!] AI From the Cybersecurity Law Report: “Gen AI…
Duty of Care
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/duty-of-care/
Published: December 4, 2025 20:38
AI Copyright scholar Pamela Samuelson examines recent decisions in several AI copyright casesOpenAI is being sued again by the family of a man who committed suicide after months of interaction with ChatGPT, one of seven lawsuits filed in California state…
Happy Thanksgiving 2025
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/happy-thanksgiving-2025/
Published: November 26, 2025 20:35
AI Several large insurance companies are seeking to exclude coverage for liability arising from AI risks in the US [Financial Times ($) | Tom’s Hardware] Corporate landlord Greystar has settled an antitrust lawsuit, alleging it illegally used algorithms to…
Outlaw AI Country
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/outlaw-ai-country/
Published: November 20, 2025 19:23
AI The Trump Administration has drafted an executive order that would create a task force to challenge state AI regulation and withhold federal funds from states that have passed AI laws deemed “onerous”; at the same time Congress is considering a…
Highway Speeds
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/highway-speeds/
Published: November 13, 2025 20:02
AI There is a new(ish) AI Law tracker that includes fabrications in court filings, First Amendment-related lawsuits, torts suits and cases that use AI as evidenceConsumer Reports and Stanford University have started a project to “advanc[e] research and…
Mind the AI Gap
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/mind-the-ai-gap/
Published: November 6, 2025 20:08
AI 404 Media [$] on how GenAI tools may be used to help implement and expand books bans and other censorship efforts in schools and libraries Amazon is suing Perplexity.AI over its agentic AI browser, which can order items from Amazon’s website on…
Mock Bot Court
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/mock-bot-court/
Published: October 30, 2025 20:02
AI Two federal judges have apologized for releasing court orders with AI-fabricated errors in response to Sen. Grassley’s inquiry; the senator has called for “every federal judge, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Judicial Conference to…
Tertiary sources
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/tertiary-sources/
Published: October 23, 2025 19:01
AI From Bob Ambrogi: “To A Sometimes ‘Shell-Shocked’ ClioCon Audience, Jack Newton Presented Clio’s Vision for a New Era of AI-Driven Legal Work” Vals AI has released a benchmarking report on GenAI tools and legal research, finding that the tools tested…
Personalized Algorithmic Pricing
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/personalized-algorithmic-pricing/
Published: October 16, 2025 19:08
AI California has passed a bill that requires AI chatbot platforms to include regular pop-ups reminding users that they are interacting with a chatbot, as well as implementing protocols to prevent self-harm content and direct users to crisis centers if…
How to ticket a Waymo
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/how-to-ticket-a-waymo/
Published: October 9, 2025 19:11
AI Sen. Chuck Grassley, as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sent letters to two federal judges to request information about their purposed use of GenAI for orders that included errors and fabrications [Law360 ($) | Mississippi Today | Press…
The Hollywood edition
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/the-hollywood-edition/
Published: October 2, 2025 19:05
AI From the BBC: “In recent months, YouTube has secretly used artificial intelligence (AI) to tweak people’s videos without letting them know or asking permission” Bollywood stars are suing in Indian court to enforce “personality rights” over their…
Robot Umps, Guards & Parole Officers
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/robot-umps-guards-parole-officers/
Published: September 25, 2025 19:06
AI From the Harvard Business Review: “AI-Generated ‘Workslop’ Is Destroying Productivity” Legal practitioners and professors are united in their acrimony for the new citation rules for GenAI in the 22nd ed. of the Bluebook Louisiana state appellate judge…
Content warnings
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/content-warnings/
Published: September 18, 2025 18:27
AI [Ed. note: content warning - discussions of teens and self-harm] The parents of three teens have been filed against Character.AI and Google, alleging the company’s AI avatars used sexually inappropriate roleplay and emotional manipulation techniques…
The Taking of All Takings
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/no-121/
Published: September 11, 2025 19:12
AI Anthropic and the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit for copyright infringement come to a preliminary settlement, which includes a payment of US$1.5 billionThe settlement [Order | NBC News | Wired ($)]Reactions [WSJ | Authors Guild | Jones…
Eyewear, spywear
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/eyewear-spywear/
Published: September 4, 2025 18:46
AI News that OpenAI will be scanning ChatGPT conversations and sending ones to law enforcement that involve “imminent threat of serious physical harm to others” has led to a bit of a backlash against the companyA new start-up promises AI-enhanced “smart”…
Happy Labor Day
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/welcome-class-of-2028/
Published: August 29, 2025 20:10
AI The Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules has opened a 6-month public comment period on drafts of new judicial rules, including a new Federal Rule of Evidence, which reads: Rule 707. Machine-Generated Evidence When machine-generated…
Good Trouble 2025
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/good-trouble-2025/
Published: July 17, 2025 19:16
AI Judge William Alsup has granted class certification for one of the proposed classes in Bratz v. Anthropic, where a number of authors are suing the developer of the genAI model Claude for copyright infringement [Docket | Order] A lawsuit by two voiceover…
Happy Juneteenth
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/happy-juneteenth/
Published: June 18, 2025 23:46
AI There are now two public AI Hallucination Case trackers: Damien Charlotin’s AI Hallucination Cases and Matthew Lee’s AI Hallucination Case Tracker The Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States has…
GenAI Folie à deux
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/genai-folie-a-deux/
Published: May 15, 2025 19:38
[Editorial note: It is the end of the academic year for me, so this newsletter is going to monthly until late August. The next issue will be sometime in June. Thanks for your readership and support] AI Attorneys at KL Gates and Ellis George LP have been…
White Smoke
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/white-smoke/
Published: May 8, 2025 19:12
AI An AI-generated video of a man killed in a road-rage incident in 2021 was presented in court this week as a victim impact statement during sentencing [The Guardian ($) | ABA Journal ($) | ABC15 TV] | 404 Media ($)] The Food and Drug Administration has…
Finals Time - Spring 2025
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/finals-time-spring-2025/
Published: May 1, 2025 01:17
AI The TAKE IT DOWN Act, which criminalizes non-consensual revenge porn and deepfake porn, has passed both the House and Senate [Politico | AP | NY Times ($) | Congress.gov]From 404 Media [$]: “A team of researchers who say they are from the University of…
AI-Generated Bar Questions
https://buttondown.com/LawyerExMachina/archive/ai-generated-bar-questions/
Published: April 24, 2025 19:04
AI From TechCrunch: “OpenAI’s new reasoning AI models hallucinate more”Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and Legal Design Lab have collaborated with the Los Angeles Superior Court on a report called “A Blueprint for…