Legislation Corporations
5 hallucinated instances lead federal decide to kick 3 Butler Snow attorneys off case
July 30, 2025, 9:13 am CDT
Three Butler Snow attorneys could not signify a former corrections commissioner in Alabama as a result of they filed two motions with 5 “fully made up” case citations produced by ChatGPT, a federal decide dominated final week. (Picture from Shutterstock)
Three Butler Snow attorneys could not signify a former corrections commissioner in Alabama as a result of they filed two motions with 5 “fully made up” case citations produced by ChatGPT, a generative synthetic intelligence software, a federal decide dominated final week.
U.S. District Choose Anna M. Manasco of the Northern District of Alabama stated fabricating authorized authority “calls for considerably higher accountability than the reprimands and modest fines which have grow to be widespread as courts confront this type of AI misuse.”
Manasco additionally publicly reprimanded the attorneys; referred them to the Alabama State Bar; and ordered them to reveal the sanctions order to all shoppers, the opposing counsel and the presiding judges in each pending state and federal case by which they’re counsel of report. They’re additionally required to offer a duplicate of the order to each legal professional at Butler Snow.
However Manasco didn’t sanction the regulation agency.
“Butler Snow acted fairly in its efforts to stop this misconduct and doubled down on its precautionary and responsive measures when its nightmare situation unfolded,” Manasco wrote.
Law360 and Reuters coated Manasco’s July 23 choice.
Manasco discovered that three out of 5 attorneys who signed the movement have been liable for the errors. They included associate and assistant apply group chief Matthew B. Reeves, who stated at a show-cause listening to the pretend citations have been resulting from his use of ChatGPT. A second sanctioned lawyer was concerned within the drafting course of, and a 3rd was the apply group chief.
The citations hallucinated by ChatGPT both don’t exist or don’t stand for the proposition for which they have been cited, Butler Snow stated in a Might 19 submitting. The agency apologized for the error and stated using AI violated the agency’s coverage.
Butler Snow additionally employed Morgan, Lewis & Bockius to evaluate all case citations involving the 5 attorneys in federal courts in Alabama and the eleventh U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals at Atlanta since April 2023. Twenty-eight Morgan Lewis attorneys reviewed greater than 2,400 separate authorized citations throughout 330 filings. No different situations of incorrect case references have been discovered.
The attorneys have been defending a former commissioner for the Alabama Division of Corrections in an inmate lawsuit alleging that he was not shielded from repeated stabbings.
Reeves and Butler Snow normal counsel Benjamin M. Watson didn’t instantly reply to ABA Journal emails looking for remark. Nor did Reeves instantly reply to a Journal voicemail message.
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