Utah lawyer sanctioned for ChatGPT-generated false legal citations
The Utah court of appeals sanctioned lawyer Richard Bednar after discovering his petition for appeal contained false legal citations, including a nonexistent case, that were generated by ChatGPT. Bednar acknowledged the errors and stated an unlicensed law clerk had prepared the brief without his independent verification of its accuracy.
What happened
An unlicensed law clerk using ChatGPT prepared a petition for interlocutory appeal filed by Richard Bednar and Douglas Durbano in the Utah court of appeals. The brief contained false citations, including a nonexistent case titled 'Royer v Nelson' that could only be found in ChatGPT and references to cases wholly unrelated to the subject matter.
Bednar acknowledged the errors and apologized, stating that he did not independently check the accuracy of the petition before filing. The law clerk was terminated from the law firm.
Reported impact
The Utah court of appeals sanctioned Bednar for filing the brief with fabricated legal authority obtained from ChatGPT. Bednar offered to pay related attorney fees to make amends.
Index analysis
The court emphasized that while AI is a legal research tool that will continue to evolve, every attorney remains responsible for the accuracy of their filings.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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