Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
The reputational concern is that it tells the court you didn’t read the case and you didn’t cite check your brief. Firms are now getting sanctioned for it so there is an economic concern as well. I think most law firm leaders would agree that the most significant issue is the impact on the reputation and brand of the firm.
— A law firm leader, in comments given to Law.com on the condition of anonymity, concerning Sullivan & Cromwell’s recent run-in with AI hallucinations submitted in a court filing. The firm leader went on to say that “[r]ule number one from first year of law school is don’t cite fictional cases.” A New York practice group leader echoed those thoughts, telling Law.com, “Somebody manually has to go and look at every case and every quote, and make sure that it’s there. We always do that. We did that 10 years ago. We did that 15 years ago. I did that as a first year associate. In fact, I did that in law school when I was on law review and did cite checking. So, in some ways, that’s not new. What’s just new is the allure of the [AI] shortcut, you know?“
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.