This is the property of the Daily Journal Corporation and fully protected by copyright. It is made available only to Daily Journal subscribers for personal or collaborative purposes and may not be distributed, reproduced, modified, stored or transferred without written permission. Please click "Reprint" to order presentation-ready copies to distribute to clients or use in commercial marketing materials or for permission to post on a website. and copyright (showing year of publication) at the bottom.
Subscribe to the Daily Journal for access to Daily Appellate Reports, Verdicts, Judicial Profiles and more...

Technology

May 1, 2026

The practice nobody licensed: Nippon Life v. OpenAI and the vacancy at the heart of AI legal liability

When AI practices law without a license, who is responsible? That is the question Nippon Life v. OpenAI forces courts to answer. If the answer is no one, we might be abolishing our profession.

James Mixon

Managing Attorney
California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District

See more...

The practice nobody licensed: <i>Nippon Life v. OpenAI</i> and the vacancy at the heart of AI legal liability
Shutterstock

What happens when ChatGPT can pass the bar? It hangs out a shingle.

Graciela Dela Torre found out the hard way. In early 2025, Dela Torre uploaded a letter from her attorney into ChatGPT and asked whether she had been given good advice. ChatGPT told her she hadn't. It questioned her settlement, suggested she had been pressured into signing a blank signature page, and concluded that her lawyer's correspondence amounted to gaslighting. She fired hi...

To continue reading, please subscribe.
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$895, but save $100 when you subscribe today… Just $795 for the first year!

Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)

Already a subscriber?

Enewsletter Sign-up