Latest news with #ButlerSnow
Toronto Star
5 days ago
- Toronto Star
Judge sanctions lawyers defending Alabama's prison system for using fake ChatGPT cases in filings
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge reprimanded lawyers with a high-priced firm defending Alabama's prison system for using ChatGPT to write court filings with 'completely made up' case citations. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco publicly reprimanded three lawyers with Butler Snow, the law firm hired to defend Alabama and other jurisdictions in lawsuits against their prison systems. The order sanctioned William R. Lunsford, the head of the firm division that handles prison litigation, along with Matthew B. Reeves and William J. Cranford.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Judge sanctions lawyers defending Alabama's prison system for using fake ChatGPT cases in filings
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge reprimanded lawyers with a high-priced firm defending Alabama's prison system for using ChatGPT to write court filings with 'completely made up' case citations. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco publicly reprimanded three lawyers with Butler Snow, the law firm hired to defend Alabama and other jurisdictions in lawsuits against their prison systems. The order sanctioned William R. Lunsford, the head of the firm division that handles prison litigation, along with Matthew B. Reeves and William J. Cranford. 'Fabricating legal authority is serious misconduct that demands a serious sanction,' Manasco wrote in the Wednesday sanctions order. Manasco removed the three from participating in the case where the false citations were filed and directed them to share the sanctions order with clients, opposing lawyers and judges in all of their other cases. She also referred the matter to the Alabama State Bar for possible disciplinary action. Butler Snow is representing Alabama in multiple lawsuits involving its prison system. Alabama has paid Lunsford and his firm more than $40 million since 2020, according to state spending records. Butler Snow lawyers had repeatedly apologized during an earlier hearing before Manasco. They said an attorney used artificial intelligence to research supporting case law but did not verify the information before adding it to two filings with the federal court. Those citations turned out to be 'hallucinations' — meaning incorrect citations — by the AI system. 'In simpler terms, the citations were completely made up,' Manasco wrote. She added that using the citations without verifying their accuracy was 'recklessness in the extreme.' The filings in question were made in a lawsuit filed by an inmate who was stabbed on multiple occasions at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County. The lawsuit alleges that prison officials are failing to keep inmates safe.
Associated Press
5 days ago
- Associated Press
Judge sanctions lawyers defending Alabama's prison system for using fake ChatGPT cases in filings
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge reprimanded lawyers with a high-priced firm defending Alabama's prison system for using ChatGPT to write court filings with 'completely made up' case citations. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco publicly reprimanded three lawyers with Butler Snow, the law firm hired to defend Alabama and other jurisdictions in lawsuits against their prison systems. The order sanctioned William R. Lunsford, the head of the firm division that handles prison litigation, along with Matthew B. Reeves and William J. Cranford. 'Fabricating legal authority is serious misconduct that demands a serious sanction,' Manasco wrote in the Wednesday sanctions order. Manasco removed the three from participating in the case where the false citations were filed and directed them to share the sanctions order with clients, opposing lawyers and judges in all of their other cases. She also referred the matter to the Alabama State Bar for possible disciplinary action. Butler Snow is representing Alabama in multiple lawsuits involving its prison system. Alabama has paid Lunsford and his firm more than $40 million since 2020, according to state spending records. Butler Snow lawyers had repeatedly apologized during an earlier hearing before Manasco. They said an attorney used artificial intelligence to research supporting case law but did not verify the information before adding it to two filings with the federal court. Those citations turned out to be 'hallucinations' — meaning incorrect citations — by the AI system. 'In simpler terms, the citations were completely made up,' Manasco wrote. She added that using the citations without verifying their accuracy was 'recklessness in the extreme.' The filings in question were made in a lawsuit filed by an inmate who was stabbed on multiple occasions at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County. The lawsuit alleges that prison officials are failing to keep inmates safe.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Reuters
Judge disqualifies three Butler Snow attorneys from case over AI citations
July 24 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Alabama disqualified three lawyers from U.S. law firm Butler Snow from a case after they inadvertently included made-up citations generated by artificial intelligence in court filings. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco in a Wednesday order, opens new tab reprimanded the lawyers at the Mississippi-founded firm for making false statements in court and referred the issue to the Alabama State Bar, which handles attorney disciplinary matters. Manasco did not impose monetary sanctions, as some judges have done in other cases across the country involving AI use. Fabricating legal authority "demands substantially greater accountability than the reprimands and modest fines that have become common as courts confront this form of AI misuse," Manasco said. "As a practical matter, time is telling us – quickly and loudly – that those sanctions are insufficient deterrents." The case is the latest example of a judge sanctioning or admonishing lawyers as AI-generated "hallucinations" have continued to crop up in court filings ever since ChatGPT and other generative AI programs became widely available. Professional rules require lawyers to vet their work however it is produced. The three Butler Snow lawyers were part of a team defending former Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn in an inmate's lawsuit alleging he was repeatedly attacked in prison. Dunn has denied wrongdoing. The judge said the three lawyers' conduct was "tantamount to bad faith." She sanctioned partner Matthew Reeves, who admitted to using AI to generate the citations and including them in the filings without verification. Reeves in a May filing apologized to the court and said he regretted his "lapse in diligence and judgment." She also disqualified partners William Cranford and William Lunsford, who each signed their names onto the filings. The lawyers said in May filings that they did not independently review the legal citations that were added. Reeves, Cranford and Lunsford did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. The judge declined to sanction Butler Snow, finding the firm "acted reasonably in its efforts to prevent this misconduct and doubled down on its precautionary and responsive measures when its nightmare scenario unfolded." The firm previously warned its attorneys about the risks of AI and escalated the issue after the court issued an order for the lawyers to explain what happened in the case. Butler Snow also mounted an internal investigation and retained another firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, for an independent review to verify citations in 40 other cases, the judge said. A Butler Snow spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did one of the lawyers representing plaintiff Frankie Johnson, or a lawyer from the Alabama attorney general's office, which had appointed Lunsford to litigate on behalf of the state, according to the order. The judge ordered the three lawyers to share a copy of the order with their clients, opposing lawyers and judges in other pending state or federal cases in which they are involved, and also to every lawyer at Butler Snow.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- The Guardian
Alabama paid a law firm millions to defend its prisons. It used AI and turned in fake citations
In less than a year-and-a-half, Frankie Johnson, a man incarcerated at the William E Donaldson prison outside Birmingham, Alabama, says he was stabbed around 20 times. In December of 2019, Johnson says, he was stabbed 'at least nine times' in his housing unit. In March of 2020, an officer handcuffed him to a desk following a group therapy meeting, and left the unit, after which another prisoner came in and stabbed him five times. In November of the same year, Johnson says, he was handcuffed by an officer and brought to the prison yard, where another prisoner attacked him with an ice pick, stabbing him 'five to six times', as two correctional officers looked on. According to Johnson, one of the officers had actually encouraged his attacker to carry out the assault in retaliation for a previous argument between Johnson and the officer. In 2021, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Alabama prison officials for failing to keep him safe, rampant violence, understaffing, overcrowding and pervasive corruption in Alabama prisons. To defend the case, the Alabama attorney general's office turned to a law firm that for years has been paid millions of dollars by the state to defend its troubled prison system: Butler Snow. State officials have praised Butler Snow for their experience in defending prison cases – and specifically William Lunsford, head of the constitutional and civil rights litigation practice group at the firm. But now, the firm is facing sanctions by the federal judge overseeing Johnson's case after an attorney at the firm, working with Lunsford, cited cases generated by artificial intelligence – which turned out not to exist. It is one of a growing number of instances in which attorneys around the country have faced consequences for including false, AI-generated information in official legal filings. A database attempting to track the prevalence of the cases has identified 106 instances around the globe in which courts have found 'AI hallucinations' in court documents. Last year, an attorney was suspended for one year from practicing law in the federal middle district of Florida, after a committee found he had cited fabricated AI-generated cases. In California earlier this month, a federal judge ordered a firm to pay more than $30,000 in legal fees after they included false AI-generated research in a brief. At a hearing in Birmingham on Wednesday in Johnson's case, the US district judge Anna Manasco said that she was considering a wide range of sanctions – including fines, mandated continuing legal education, referrals to licensing organizations and temporary suspensions – against Butler Snow, after the attorney, Matthew Reeves, used ChatGPT to add false citations to filings related to ongoing deposition and discovery disputes in the case. She suggested that so far, the disciplinary actions that have been meted out around the country have not gone far enough. The current case is 'proof positive that those sanctions were insufficient', she told the lawyers. 'If they were, we wouldn't be here.' During the hearing, attorneys with Butler Snow were effusively apologetic, and said they would accept whatever sanctions Manasco determined were appropriate. They also pointed to a firm policy that requires attorneys to seek approval when using AI for legal research. Reeves attempted to take full responsibility. 'I was aware of the limitations on use [of AI], and in these two instances I did not comply with policy,' Reeves said. 'I would hope your honor would not punish my colleagues.' Attorneys with Butler Snow were appointed by the Alabama attorney general's office and are being paid by the state to defend Jefferson Dunn, the former commissioner of the Alabama department of corrections, in the case. Lunsford, who holds the contract with the state for the case, said that he had begun conducting a review of prior filings to make sure that there weren't more instances of false citations. 'This is very fresh and raw,' Lunsford told Manasco. 'The firm's response to this is not complete yet.' Manasco said that she would allow Butler Snow to file a motion within 10 days to explain what their process will be for addressing the problem before making a decision regarding sanctions. The use of the fake AI citations in the case came to light in relation to a scheduling dispute in the case. Attorneys with Butler Snow had contacted Johnson's attorneys to set up a deposition of Johnson, who is still in prison. Johnson's attorneys objected to the proposed dates, pointing to outstanding documents that they felt they were entitled to prior to Johnson being deposed. But in a court filing on 7 May, Butler Snow countered that case law mandated Johnson be deposed expeditiously. 'The Eleventh Circuit and district courts routinely authorize incarcerated depositions when proper notice is given and the deposition is relevant to claims or defenses, notwithstanding other discovery disputes,' they wrote. The attorneys listed four cases ostensibly backing up their assertion. It turns out they were all made up. While some of the cited cases resembled citations for real cases, none of them were relevant to the issue before the court. For instance, one was for a 2021 case entitled Kelley v City of Birmingham, but according to lawyers for Johnson, 'the sole existing case styled as Kelley v. City of Birmingham that Plaintiff's counsel could identify was decided by the Alabama Court of Appeals in 1939 regarding the resolution of a speeding ticket'. Earlier this week, lawyers for Johnson filed a motion pointing out the fabrications, and suggested they were the product of 'generative artificial intelligence'. They also found another apparently fabricated citation in a prior filing related to a dispute over discovery. The very next day, Manasco scheduled a hearing to determine whether the Butler Snow attorneys should be sanctioned. 'In the light of the seriousness of the accusation, the court has conducted independent searches for each allegedly fabricated citation, to no avail,' she wrote. In a declaration to the court, Reeves said that he had been reviewing the filings that were drafted by a more junior colleague, and wanted to include citations for what he 'believed to be well-established points of law'. 'I knew generally about ChatGPT,' Reeves wrote, continuing that he put in a search for supporting case law he needed for the motions, which 'immediately identified purportedly applicable citations for those points of law'. But in his 'haste to finalize the motions and get them filed', he 'failed to verify the case citations returned by ChatGPT through independent review in Westlaw or Pacer before including them.' 'I sincerely regret this lapse in diligence and judgment,' Reeves wrote. 'I take full responsibility.' Cases in which false AI content is making its way into legal filings appear to be increasing in frequency, said Damien Charlotin, a Paris-based legal researcher and academic who is attempting to track the cases. 'I'm seeing an acceleration,' he said. 'There are so many cases from the past few weeks and months compared to before.' So far, though, the response by courts to the problem has been remarkably lenient, Charlotin said. The more serious sanctions – including large fines and suspensions – tend to come when lawyers fail to take responsibility for their mistakes. 'I don't expect it to last,' Charlotin said. 'I think at some point everyone will be on notice.' In addition to the Johnson case, Lunsford and Butler Snow have contracts to work on several expansive civil rights cases against the Alabama department of corrections – including one brought by the United States Department of Justice under Donald Trump in 2020 that identifies many of the same wide-ranging systemic issues that Johnson pointed to in his suit, and alleges that the conditions violate the eighth amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The contract for that case alone was worth nearly $15m dollars over two years at one point. Some Alabama lawmakers have questioned the amount that the state is spending on the firm to defend the cases. But it doesn't appear that the mistake this week has shaken the attorney general's confidence in Lunsford or Butler Snow to continue with their work, so far. On Wednesday, Manasco asked a lawyer with the attorney general's office, who was present at the hearing, whether or not they would stick with Butler Snow. 'Mr Lunsford remains the attorney general's counsel of choice,' he responded.
