Immigration attorneys suspended for AI-generated briefs with fabricated case citations
Two Orange County immigration attorneys were suspended for six months and fined $2,500 each after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found they used generative AI to prepare court briefs containing fabricated case citations and misrepresentations. The attorneys initially denied that AI errors caused the inaccuracies, claiming they were typographical mistakes, but the court determined they acted with knowledge or recklessness in making false statements.
What happened
Orange County immigration attorneys Mike Singh Sethi and William Rounds of Sethi Law Group used generative AI to write court briefs that included multiple nonexistent cases, misattributed quotations, and gross misrepresentations of real cases.
When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals discovered the errors, the attorneys initially claimed they were innocent typographical mistakes and repeatedly denied that generative AI might have produced them. The court found that the attorneys knowingly or recklessly made false statements.
Reported impact
Despite the fabricated content in the briefs, the court's November ruling in favor of the attorneys' clients, which halted the deportation of three family members from India, was not altered by the disciplinary proceedings.
Index analysis
The court emphasized that the discipline was issued not simply for the use of AI, but specifically for filing briefs containing fabrications and inaccuracies and for lacking candor in disclosing that these errors resulted from AI hallucinations.
The court warned other attorneys to be aware of the risks of overreliance on generative AI and to read everything carefully, stating that procedural and ethical rules apply with equal force regardless of how legal papers are prepared or what legal technology is used.
Governance controls
Sethi and Rounds were each fined $2,500 and suspended from practicing in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for six months.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.