Lawyers in Arizona could be sanctioned for using generative AI to write their briefs if they cite cases that don’t exist.
The ruling came about after the Arizona Court of Appeals got involved in a case between two family members in probate court. The court determined that the respondent in that case — who also represented himself — made inaccurate and false claims in his legal brief.
He later admitted that he used generative AI and did not use legal research tools or materials to verify case citations.
The court said because both attorneys and self-represented litigants are increasingly relying on AI, it ruled that citing fake cases is sanctionable conduct. Those sanctions could include contempt, dismissal, monetary fines or imposing attorneys fees.
The court said while AI tools hold promise, the person signing the brief has to make sure all of the cases they cite are real and accurate.
Damien Charlotin, a legal technologist and researcher, developed a database to track legal decisions in cases where generative AI produced hallucinated content, such as fake citations. About 40 such cases since 2024 have involved jurisdiction in Arizona.
Sean Harrington is the director of the AI and legal tech studio at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU.
"So they're being really hard on attorneys right now, rightfully, I would say to stop this," he said. "But this is the first time I'd ever seen a pro se litigant."
Harrington says this latest decision came about after a pro se litigant, which is someone representing themselves in court, made false claims in his legal brief. That litigant later admitted he used generative AI to write the brief and did not verify the case citations.
"There is a big promise with AI in closing the access to justice gap, but then there is also the slop filing issue, overwhelming the courts, vexatious litigation, we’re seeing a huge rise in that," Harrington said.
Because now anyone can file a legal brief using generative AI tools. And the courts, he says, don’t have enough staff to carefully evaluate what’s coming through. "If you have a really long motion, I mean, we're talking about well over 100 citations, so it's very burdensome," he said.
Harrington says one solution would be for the courts to integrate their own AI tools to help detect fake cases citations sooner.
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