AI in Court
Apparent AI Hallucinations in Filing from Two >500-Lawyer Firms
Don't assume your firm is safe.
Two Federal Judges Apologize For Issuing Opinions With AI Hallucinations
An intern and a law clerk used generative AI, and the judges didn't catch the hallucinations.
Repeated "Nonexistent Cases" in Filing From >20-Lawyer Insurance Defense Firm
Lawyers at firms of all size, don't let this happen to you.
$7500 Sanctions for Nonexistent Citations in Brief; Magistrate Judge Stresses Cite-Checking Isn't a New Obligation
"Whether a case cite is obtained from a law review article, a hornbook, or through independent legal research, the duty to ensure that any case cited to a court is "good law" is nearly as old as the practice of law."
Sanctions for Another Lawyer Filing AI-Hallucinated Material …
for "citing to fabricated, AI-generated cases without verifying the accuracy, or even the existence, of the cases" and "misrepresenting to the Court the origin of the AI-generated cases."
Counsel, You've Suddenly Gone All Literary on Me
Plus, "He claims that, going forward, he will undertake certain 'remedial efforts,' including, inter alia, 'establish[ing] ... database reconciliation procedures involving resolution of discrepancies through direct consultation of archival legal resources and substitution of alternative, verifiable authorities where necessary.' Most lawyers simply call this 'conducting legal research.'"
Georgia Trial Court Cites Likely AI-Hallucinated Cases (Possibly Borrowed from Party's Filing)
There have likely been hundreds of filings with AI-hallucinated citations in American courts, but this is the first time I've seen a court note that a judge had included such a citation.
"Whoever or Whatever Drafted the Briefs Signed and Filed by Blackburn,"
"it is clear that he, at the very best, acted with culpable neglect of his professional obligations."
"To Certify This Class …, the Court Must Find That the Named Plaintiffs Have Retained Competent Counsel to Represent the Class"
And the court declines to so find when the proposed class counsel filed a brief containing "a wholesale fabrication of quotations and a holding on a material issue" (presumably stemming from using AI and not adequately checking its output).
Cocaine Hippos, Monkey Copyrights, and a Horse Named Justice: The Debate Over Animal Personhood
Are human courts the best venue to protect wild animals?
Seemingly Nonexistent Citation in Anthropic Expert's Declaration [UPDATE: Apparently Caused by Lawyer's Misuse of Claude to Format Citations]
UPDATE 5/15/2025 (post moved up): Anthropic's lawyers filed a declaration stating that the error was not the expert's, but stemmed from the (unwise) use of Claude AI to format citations.
AI Hallucination in Filings Involving 14th-Largest U.S. Law Firm Lead to $31K in Sanctions
The judge finds "a collective debacle"—possibly caused, I think, by two firms working together and the communications problems this can cause—though "conclude[s] that additional financial or disciplinary sanctions against the individual attorneys are not warranted."
Should a Killer's Victim Be Able to "Speak" at a Sentencing Through AI?
An Arizona trial court judge allowed this innovative approach to presenting a victim impact statement, which seems like a useful step toward justice.
Apparent AI Hallucinations in Defense Filing in Coomer v. Lindell / My Pillow Election-Related Libel Suit
UPDATE: Lawyer's response added; post bumped to highlight the update.
No Problem with Expert's Using ChatGPT to Confirm His Work
"Lehnert used ChatGPT after he had written his report to confirm his findings, which were based on his decades of experience joining dissimilar materials."
11 Court Opinions in the Last 30 Days Mention AI-Hallucinated Material, and …
that's likely just the tip of the iceberg.
