>An appeal containing fake case citations that misrepresent the law can be dismissed as frivolous, a U.S. federal appeals court panel said in a decision sanctioning two attorneys who submitted filings that bore hallmarks of artificial intelligence "hallucinations."
>The two attorneys must reimburse Athens for its legal work on the appeal, and also must individually pay $15,000 each to the appeals court as a punitive sanction, according to the order.
and now begin the hand waiving and *BUT BUT BUT...*
77
Vault-71Mar 18, 2026
+5
If anything, these lawyers got off lightly. Appeals are a costly and time-intensive process, and while it sounds like the client will be getting back what they paid in legal fees, they're now back to square one. Hopefully the client can still appeal with competent counsel this time.
Bro it’s so hard to even get any sort of grievance against a lawyer.
8
NeedsToShutUpMar 17, 2026
+2
They probably will be disbarred. It's just federal courts aren't as tied into disbarment as state courts can be. Some state courts can refer such proceedings directly to the bar for disbarment proceedings.
2
nerdyguytxMar 17, 2026
+3
Disbarment is rarely used, suspension is more likely. A more likely punishment in this instance is the attorneys lose the ability to appear before US federal courts as each court has rules as to who it allows to appear before it.
3
NeedsToShutUpMar 17, 2026
+1
Bar sanctions as a whole get referred to as disbarment by laypeople.
It's going to really depend on the state. California, for example, can be really hard to be fully disbarred from. There's that one motorcycle gang attorney who got convicted of homicide charges. (I think it was 3 murders). He spent like 25 years fighting to avoid disbarment.
1
barney_muffinbergMar 17, 2026
+31
News Flash: Lawyers coast. Same assholes who charge $750 per hour to “draft” boilerplate contracts.
31
StatusSociety2196Mar 17, 2026
+10
I remember about 10 years ago looking over a hiring contract we got from our lawyer for Dr B, and it still had Dr As name a half dozen times in the document from when we hired them around a year prior. They didn't even find & replace it, they just sent over the exact f****** document with a couple hundred dollar invoice!
10
barney_muffinbergMar 17, 2026
+19
Had an incredible experience on this front. Was referred to a firm by a prospective investor, who reviewed the Shareholder's Agreement that the firm ultimately produced. Upon review, he asked, "What did they charge you for this?" When I told him (it was thousands), he immediately sent me an identical contract they'd produced for another company. Even the typos were identical.
I went ballistic, confronted the attorney, and demanded a refund, which a senior partner ultimately approved. Then, I dropped them cold. F****** pricks.
I won't name the firm, but it was Greenburg Traurig.
19
008ZuluMar 17, 2026
+9
Their professional reputations have also taken a big hit. Who will hire lawyers who rely on slop?
9
random20190826Mar 17, 2026
+7
As a non lawyer who had to represent myself in small claims court, I used AI to help me understand what I was doing, but I wrote the claim myself, and I made sure the cases I cited were real and what the context was before citing them. If they just use AI without knowing whether the cases even exist, they should be disbarred.
7
ColdIceZeroMar 17, 2026
+9
As a lawyer, the biggest issue in judicial culture is nepotism.
Judges will rubberstamp filings that come from certain lawyers or law firms.
In my state, being a judge is a local elected position. Like any other politician, judges need to run a campaign to support their election, and the money for that campaign must come from somewhere.
Well wouldn't you know it, it turns out that certain lawyers / law firms are more equal than others after a judge gets elected.
I am unsurprised by so many lawyers submitting AI slop filings because, in practice, so few state judges actually read anything and primarily rely on vibes to rule on cases.
What surprises me are these stories about lawyers getting caught.
9
random20190826Mar 17, 2026
+3
I am in Canada, where judges are appointed and not elected. Judges being elected may lead to them being overly political because they have to act like politicians to get voters to vote for them.
But even in Canada, some lawyers were caught using AI to write their claims, motions and affidavits.
[Suspended Toronto lawyer linked to deadly triple shooting caught using AI in appeal](https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/suspended-toronto-lawyer-linked-to-deadly-triple-shooting-caught-using-ai-in-appeal/)
[B.C. lawyer reprimanded for citing fake cases invented by ChatGPT](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/lawyer-chatgpt-fake-precedent-1.7126393)
3
TimothyMimeslayerMar 17, 2026
-3
You dont pay them for how long it takes to turn a screw, but knowing which screw to turn.
-3
hypoch0ndriacsMar 17, 2026
+2
Except in this case, the screw they say needs turning doesn't even exist. So they don't even know that
2
MakingItElsewhereMar 18, 2026
+3
Meanwhile, I saw a linkedin lunatic telling people that AI agents can now fully run an entire law firm.
They want all the fees, and none of the work.
3
sun_cardinalMar 19, 2026
+1
I recently had a small claims court case where I got to speak casually with the judge afterwards. He asked about my education and background and I informed him that I was a college professor and had my Masters is AI/ML. He asked about students cheating with AI and expressed that they were already dealing with AI slop in fillings. I can't imagine the real scale of this already.
1
light_white_seamewMar 17, 2026
-1
Strangely, find myself sort of hoping a lot of judges are old and out of touch with technology so they don't rely on LLMs to judge the arguments.
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