US lawyer sanctioned after caught using ChatGPT for court brief
US lawyer sanctioned after caught using ChatGPT for court brief
US lawyer sanctioned after being caught using ChatGPT for court brief
Richard Bednar apologized after Utah appeals court discovered false citations, including one nonexistent case
The Utah court of appeals has sanctioned a lawyer after he was discovered to have used ChatGPT for a filing he made in which he referenced a nonexistent court case.
Earlier this week, the Utah court of appeals made the decision to sanction Richard Bednar over claims that he filed a brief which included false citations.
According to court documents reviewed by ABC4, Bednar and Douglas Durbano, another Utah-based lawyer who was serving as the petitioner’s counsel, filed a “timely petition for interlocutory appeal”.
Upon reviewing the brief which was written by a law clerk, the respondent’s counsel found several false citations of cases.
Good. These people are being paid to do their jobs. Letting ChatGTP do your work for you would be unacceptable in most other professions; doubly so in a career where professional ethics are so important. To me, this is just further disrespect for the court system. Judges shouldn’t put up with this crap.
You can use ChatGippity. Just like you can use Google search. You just have to actually review and edit the results.
Confirming court cases and third party libraries is at the top of that list.