Patna: Artificial intelligence may revolutionise legal research, but it can never replace the professional judgement, ethical responsibility and constitutional conscience of a lawyer or judge, former Jharkhand High Court judge and Patna Law College alumnus Justice S N Pathak told law students at Patna Law College on Tuesday.Addressing students, Justice Pathak warned students against becoming “database-dependent” lawyers. He urged them to first understand the facts and identify the precise legal issue before searching judgments or turning to AI tools.“Make AI your assistant, but never make it your wisdom,” he said, adding that any AI-generated draft, citation or legal proposition must be independently verified.He also flagged the increasing risks posed by manipulated digital evidence, including AI-generated content and deepfakes, and said lawyers must rigorously examine the source, authenticity, metadata and chain of custody of electronic material. The central test, he said, is whether the evidence can be trusted.Referring to landmark decisions such as Maneka Gandhi and K. S. Puttaswamy, Justice Pathak urged students to study how constitutional principles develop in response to technological and social change.He also challenged conventional ideas of legal excellence, asserting that memorising large numbers of judgments does not by itself make a strong lawyer. The real skill lies in identifying the right question, locating the governing principle, applying it to the facts and presenting the argument clearly.Emphasising professional integrity, he said, “Your degree may get you into the profession, but your reputation will decide how far you go.”The session was conducted by faculty member Virendra Paswan and was attended by faculty, researchers and students.
