A judge has kicked a lawyer off a case after he submitted a brief that contained false case citations fabricated by artificial intelligence.
U.S. District Judge Kelly H. Rankin also slapped a $3,000 fine on the lawyer, Rudwin Ayala, for violating legal ethics.
The judge said Mr. Ayala drafted a brief and uploaded it to an AI tool asking the application to fill it out with extra case law citations. The AI application responded with several made-up citations, and Mr. Ayala used them without verifying their accuracy.
“Without belaboring the point, society has an interest in attorneys’ ethical conduct, and Mr. Ayala’s conduct fell short of that standard,” Judge Rankin said.
The case is the latest to test the expanding use of artificial intelligence.
Judge Rankin said the tool shows great promise — and is already paying off — for the legal profession. He cast it as the evolution of legal research, which used to involve poring over volumes of books and searching databases.
The judge said AI will help streamline research and save lawyers time and clients money, but it also has “shortcomings.”
Judge Rankin said the foundation of legal research has always been checking and verifying sources, and he said AI doesn’t change that.
“As attorneys transition to the world of AI, the duty to check their sources and make a reasonable inquiry into existing law remains unchanged,” the judge wrote.
He said the punishment could have been higher, but he said Mr. Ayala was forthcoming once his citations were challenged and he withdrew the motions.
His law firm also agreed to pay the legal fees of the opposing lawyers for the time spent defending against the bogus briefs.
Judge Rankin also fined two other lawyers who signed onto the brief but said they weren’t very involved in its crafting. The judge said anyone who signs onto a brief is affirming they made a “reasonable” effort to verify its accuracy.
Those two lawyers each earned a $1,000 penalty.
Judge Rankin declined to punish Mr. Ayala’s law firm, saying it had rules that should have barred his behavior.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.