South African lawyers investigated after AI tool generates fake legal citations
A South African court ordered an investigation after junior counsel used the AI tool Legal Genius in court submissions, which generated at least four fictitious legal citations. The lawyer acknowledged the citations were AI-generated and attributed their use to time pressure, and was referred to the Legal Practice Council for disciplinary action.
What happened
In a Johannesburg High Court case, Northbound Processing sought interim relief to compel the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator to release a refining licence. Acting judge DJ Smit noted that Northbound's legal arguments contained fake case citations generated by an AI tool called Legal Genius.
Junior counsel Giles Barclay-Beuthin acknowledged that the non-existent citations likely originated from Legal Genius. He attributed the use of the AI tool to pressing deadlines, the urgency of the case, limited time for finalising the heads of arguments, and the earlier withdrawal of another junior counsel.
Reported impact
At least four fictitious legal citations appeared in Northbound's written heads of argument. The non-existent references undermined the credibility of Northbound's submissions and were noted as an unfortunate misuse of AI in legal proceedings.
Index analysis
Acting Judge DJ Smit criticised the practice of relying on GenAI without proper verification, highlighting the dangers of this approach in legal proceedings. Refilwe Motsoeneng, associate at Michalsons Giles Inc, stated: 'Even unintentional AI hallucinations can have serious professional consequences.'
Governance controls
The judge ordered an investigation into the conduct of the lawyers and referred junior counsel to the Legal Practice Council. Senior counsel Arnold Subel issued an apology but maintained he trusted the legal team's competence and only performed a surface review.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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