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In My Opinion
The Avalanche Has Begun
How AI Will Overwhelm the Courts and Why We Must Act Now
By R. Rex Parris
(The writer is a trial attorney and mayor of Lancaster. He has spent decades advocating for legal reform and technological modernization in the courtroom.)
Recently, a notice of recall was filed against me as the mayor of Lancaster. It failed to comply with the recall statutes and the city filed a lawsuit to compel the proponents to correct it. I was named as the real party in interest, so I had to file an answer. Short on time, I asked ChatGPT to prepare an answer. It asked me if I wanted requests to produce, interrogatories and requests for admissions. In minutes it was all prepared and was better than I would have done in days not minutes. I realized everything has changed; not will change, has changed.
Artificial intelligence is changing everything; except, apparently, the legal system. A transformation that is both inevitable and cataclysmic has already begun. AI enables the public to draft complaints, propound discovery, and file motions with a fluency and precision that often exceeds average attorneys. The result? An avalanche of litigation has begun that our courts are ill-equipped to handle.
Until recently, access to the justice system required some combination of legal education, money, or representation. No more. AI can now produce a valid complaint, anticipate affirmative defenses, and generate interrogatories with shocking competence. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if everyone with a grievance could bypass the gatekeepers, you’re about to find out.
This explosion of filings isn’t a prediction. It’s already begun. Pro se litigants equipped with free or low-cost AI tools will flood state and federal courts. And here’s the kicker: many of these AI-generated pleadings are not just competent; they’re better than what overworked attorneys routinely produce.
The implications are staggering. The judiciary, already bogged down by delays and backlogs, will be paralyzed. Civil discovery will spiral out of control when AI drafts voluminous but technically compliant requests at lightning speed. Judicial dockets will become landfills of algorithmic filings. Motion practice will morph into an arms race of AI-generated memoranda. Judges will drown, not in bad law, but in too much law.
The legal profession has two choices: adapt or be crushed. First, we must modernize procedural thresholds to filter out noise—raising filing fees, imposing page limits, and empowering clerks to reject clearly meritless AI submissions. Second, courts must automate scheduling and digital evidence portals to AI-assisted case triage. Third, and most controversially, we must eliminate outdated luxuries like live court reporters and reinvest those savings in real-time legal infrastructure. We will fail if we rely on committees of judges and lawyers. The courts should appoint an AI czar with the authority to make fundamental changes.
The coming crisis is not about bad actors: It’s about good software. It will only be solved with equally good software. The democratization of legal tools means everyone becomes a potential plaintiff, armed with a legal brief at the click of a button. Unless we rebuild the system to handle this volume, justice will become not just delayed—but drowned.
If we fail to act, the legal system as we know it won’t evolve. It will collapse. And yes, this opinion piece was written with the help of AI.
Copyright 2025, Metropolitan News Company