Florida judges cautiously explore AI as workload grows – The Florida Bar
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Florida judges cautiously explore AI as workload grows
Oct 27, 2026Senior EditorTop Stories
‘Even with the best [platforms] and closed systems like Westlaw, we still need to make sure that the final product that is produced is our deliberative thoughts and is accurate’
Florida judges began experimenting with generative AI on July 1, when the state offered access to Westlaw’s CoCounsel, says Ninth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lisa Munyon.
“Some judges are using it more robustly than other judges, but we all are still very mindful that we have to be very careful,” says Munyon, who chairs the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges.
Munyon finds the pioneering legal tool useful for legal research.
“It can grind through a lot of cases very quickly, andhone in on the cases that are most relevant to the questions that you have, and I find that to be a big-time saver,” she says.
Judges don’t use AI for tasks related to decision making – “you certainly don’t want any analysis coming from a machine” – and are aware of the technology’s potential to “hallucinate,” Munyon stresses.
“Even with the best [platforms] and closed systems like Westlaw, we still need to make sure that the final product is our deliberative thoughts and is accurate,” she says.
Munyon’s Central Florida circuit serves Orange and Osceola counties. The Ninth Circuit is one of several that used local dollars to launch CoCounsel pilot programs in January, Munyon says.
Munyon says it’s too early to determine how much time the tool is saving judges, or how widely it’s being used. The initiative is in its infancy, she says, and judges are waiting for more guidance from the Supreme Court.
“I know the Florida Court Technology Commission is looking at different generative AI models, trying to make a recommendation to the Supreme Court regarding which models are the best, and I believe they are probably also looking at making recommendations with regard to the use of generative AI,” Munyon says. “Their work is not finished, and we’re sort of in a state of flux.”
Judges are talking a lot about generative AI, but not judicial use, Munyon says.
“Mostly what we talk about is the increase in workload that AI is causing the court system.”
A recent Florida Courts Technology Commission report shows that the number of filings by self-represented litigants has doubled.
“It’s not just the number of documents that they are able to generate very quickly, it’s the length,” Munyon says of the self-represented litigants. “The length has increased very dramatically.”
Munyon recently reviewed a case where a defendant was filing 20 or 30 lengthy documents a day. Only a small minority of SRLs are abusing the system, Munyon says.
Chief judges are also facing an administrative challenge as they process a flood of AI-generated public records and Americans with Disability Act requests, Munyon says.
The public record requests are highly time consuming and often abandoned when the party learns how much it will cost, Munyon says. Many of the ADA requests are novel, she says.
“They’ve gone out to generative AI to craft these very creative asks that we’ve never seen before,” she says.
Fortunately, Munyon says, Florida lawmakers recently acted on a Supreme Court recommendation to expand Florida’s vexatious litigant law.
“It’s helping, and it’s being used quite a bit,” she says. “A tweak that would be very helpful, and this could probably be done by rule, is if we could put a page limit on the documents that are generated by AI, as opposed to just a document limit.”
Munyon believes AI will eventually help Florida judges, especially in larger circuits, resolve cases more efficiently.
But she says it will require more time and training to avoid mistakes that could risk harming the public’s perception of a fair and impartial judiciary.
“Judges are probably going to be the last adopters of this, because if we go off the rails, the repercussions are catastrophic and it simply can’t happen.”
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