There’s been plenty of discussion about how GenAI might boost lawyers’ efficiency. But does it actually help lawyers deliver work faster?

In this episode of the Future Ready Lawyer podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Joshua Yuvaraj, Senior Lecturer at Auckland Law School and Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property, to discuss his paper, “The Verification Value Paradox: A Normative Critique of GenAI in Legal Practice.”

Yuvaraj proposes a simple test: AI’s net value equals the time saved minus the cost of verifying its work. In legal practice, however, using AI to gain efficiency can demand more verification, given lawyers’ strict duties to courts and clients. He explains how GenAI can be unreliable and opaque, creating risks that go well beyond fake citations, including subtle errors about wh ...