Just as it did in 2024 and 2023, the topic of artificial intelligence in litigation practice attracted the most interest among our readers in 2025.
The journey from 2023 to 2025 has been interesting to say the least. The year 2023 was a time for considering the promise of artificial intelligence. In 2023, we highlighted nascent state efforts to regulate artificial intelligence and ethical considerations for using artificial intelligence in law practice.
From promise in 2023 to widespread adoption in 2024, 2025 marked the year AI missteps moved from theory to courtroom reality.
In 2024, the legal community was preparing for the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, particularly generative artificial intelligence — the sort of technology that appeared to be able to conduct legal research and write like a lawyer. In 2024, articles addressing the ethical use of generative artificial intelligence in law practice, the need (or not) to disclose artificial intelligence usage to clients, and early judicial responses to the growing use of AI-generated legal pleadings in their courtrooms were the most popular.
Today, as 2025 draws to a close, litigators are actively using artificial intelligence and the focus of interest, it seems, is on dealing with missteps arising from the careless use of the technology. In 2025, lawyers using artificial intelligence attracted an uncomfortable amount of negative attention from trial courts: monetary sanctions for shoddy, AI-created legal research and requirements that lawyers disclose the use of AI in court filings. Generative artificial intelligence is proving to be a blisteringly fast research associate that requires close supervision from experienced litigation counsel.
Our most popular articles in 2025 highlighted the accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence across legal research, e-discovery, contract review, spend analytics, and knowledge management. Other popular articles addressed verification discipline, citation checking, confidentiality safeguards, data minimization, vendor controls, retention policies, and transparent client communication about AI-enabled efficiencies and fees. We noted, with apparent interest among our readers, how courts are sharpening responses to AI misuse and unreliability—from sanctions for unverified citations to heightened scrutiny of AI-assisted work product. Articles exploring evidence rule updates to confront deepfakes and authentication challenges were also popular.
Outside the topic of artificial intelligence, articles on how litigators might effectively respond to deposition no-shows continued to attract strong reader interest. A handful of articles on the apex doctrine were also well-received.
State developments rounded out the landscape. Texas’s adoption of UIDDA promises cross-border subpoena efficiencies in that economically significant jurisdiction. Massachusetts formalized remote deposition procedures. Arizona explicitly adopted a technology competence obligation for judges.
These articles were the most widely read on the Esquire Deposition Solutions blog in 2025:
Artificial Intelligence
Deposition Behavior
Apex Depositions
- The Apex Doctrine and Remote Depositions: How remote deposition formats intersect with the apex deposition doctrine; suggests targeted discovery and necessity showings to defend or overcome objections to conducting depositions of high-level company executives.
- Tech Titans Invoke, and Grow, Apex Deposition Doctrine: Efforts by large technology companies to shield high-level executives from depositions; offers strategies to challenge or defend apex notices with targeted discovery and necessity showings.
State Law Developments
- Texas Adoption of Uniform Interstate Deposition Act Won’t Bear Fruit Anytime Soon: Why the benefits of UIDDA may be delayed in Texas due to implementation timelines, local practice adjustments, and coordination challenges.
- Massachusetts Remote Deposition Rule Takes Effect: New Massachusetts rule governing remote depositions, including notice, platform, and exhibit-handling requirements.
- AI Drives Arizona’s First-in-Nation Judicial Tech Competence Rule: Arizona’s judiciary advances a first-of-its-kind tech-competence rule, spurred by the impact of artificial intelligence; outlines scope, expectations, and training implications.
- New Jersey Weighs New Duty of Technology Competence: New Jersey moves toward a formal technology competence duty for lawyers, with implications for continuing legal education requirements, communications with clients, and supervisory responsibilities.
Practice Pointers
The List
Artificial Intelligence
Deposition Behavior
Apex Depositions
State Law Developments
Practice Pointers