Caveat Lector: Large Language Models in Legal Practice

Understand

The current fascination with large language models, or LLMs, derives from the fact that many users lack the expertise to evaluate the quality of the generated text.

• LLMs may therefore appear more capable than they actually are.
• The dangerous combination of fluency and superficial plausibility leads to the temptation to trust the generated text and creates the risk of overreliance.
• Who would not trust perfect legalese? Relying recent findings in both technical and legal scholarship, this Article counterbalances the overly optimistic predictions as to the role of LLMs in legal practice.