I have spent hours and hours, researching case law, statutes, and recent holdings when I draft a brief. I use The Blue Book to ensure the accuracy of the citations.

Because I don't want my dedication of the hours I spent preparing my brief to be for naught when a judge's law clerk throws it back at me for inaccuracy (or worse, my adversary and/or the judge).

To use AI as a "shortcut" is likely OK only if you do the further work to ensure its validity.

When I went undergraduate, you could be asked to leave the college if you omitted footnotes and references.

Just reminding everyone that a false reference to law that isn't caught can become binding law if it isn't caught. The whole idea of stare decisis and precedent is based on development of existing law, not fictional law.