FWIW, my sense as an appellate practitioner (by definition, in the role of viewing and critiquing not only the strategies and actions of clients but more importantly the work of other attorneys, trial judges, and appellate judges) is that, over the past 3–5 years, clients, trial counsel, trial judging, and appellate opinions have all gotten far worse. Every day I see mistakes in the fundamentals of practice — logic and what used to be taken for common sense are out the window, and it’s as if people aren’t bothering to take 30 quiet minutes to sit back and ponder the matters at hand. Gut feelings and “pantsing” hold sway.
Just my impressions. Of course it’s not universally true, but overall this is my sense. Not sure that it’s a result of AI (come to your own conclusions) but I think it plays a part.