Federal judge in Beaumont sanctions employee’s lawyer for AI fabrications

A straightforward wrongful termination claim resulted in a $2,000 sanction against a lawyer representing a former employee. Why? Inartful use of artificial intelligence (AI). Read on for news you can use!

Reading the rules

The federal judges covering the Eastern District of Texas (the eastern part of our state, roughly from Beaumont to Texarkana to Plano) issued a rule on the use of AI by lawyers in their courts. Here it is:

If a lawyer, in the exercise of his or her professional judgment, believes that the client is served by the use of technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Bard, Big AI Chat, or generative artificial intelligence services), then the lawyer is cautioned that certain technologies may produce factually or legally inaccurate content and should never replace the lawyer’s most important asset—the exercise of independent legal judgment. If a lawyer chooses to employ technology in representing a client, the lawyer continues to be bound by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 . . . and must review and verify any computer-generated content or ensure that it complies with all such standards.

Oh, and Federal Rule 11? That states a lawyer’s signature on a court-filed document certifies that “the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or establishing new law.”