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Two law firms have been hit with $31,000 in sanctions by a California judge after submitting a legal brief riddled with fabricated legal citations produced by AI. Judge Michael Wilner condemned the undisclosed use of AI, stating it resulted in “numerous false, inaccurate, and misleading legal citations and quotations.” He also expressed concern over nearly incorporating the bogus information into a court order.

The issue stemmed from a plaintiff’s lawyer using AI to create a brief outline that contained nonexistent cases. This flawed outline was then passed on to K&L Gates, which incorporated the erroneous information into their final submission. The judge noted that the problem worsened with resubmission, containing *even more* fabricated citations. The lawyers involved admitted to using Google Gemini and AI-powered legal research tools within Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel.

This case joins a growing list of incidents where lawyers have submitted AI-generated legal documents containing fictitious information, underscoring the critical need for rigorous verification of AI-generated content in legal practice. Judge Wilner emphasized the significant risk posed to legal professionals by the unethical and undisclosed use of AI in this manner. The story was initially reported by The Verge.