Artificial Intelligence
Citation errors and hallucinated case turn up in Boies Schiller brief in ‘artificial-intelligence debacle’
A partner at Boies Schiller Flexner is seeking to file a corrected brief in litigation against the Church of Scientology after taking responsibility for “material citation errors” that it contained. (Image from Shutterstock)
A partner at Boies Schiller Flexner is seeking to file a corrected brief in litigation against the Church of Scientology after taking responsibility for “material citation errors” that it contained.
In a Sept. 19 declaration, partner John Kucera said artificial intelligence was used during preparation of the brief, and he was the partner responsible for overseeing the process.
“I am embarrassed by and very much regret these errors,” he wrote.
Original Jurisdiction, a Substack publication by Above the Law founder David Lat, covered the mistake.
“There’s no denying that this is … suboptimal,” Lat wrote. “Involving a Vault 100 and Am Law 200 law firm that’s a litigation powerhouse, it’s arguably BigLaw’s biggest artificial-intelligence debacle to date.”
Other BigLaw firms snagged by AI mistakes include Butler Snow, K&L Gates and Latham & Watkins (its error involved a footnote).
Boies Schiller is representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and actor Danny Masterson. The plaintiffs contend that they were subjected to a campaign of harassment after they came forward with sexual assault allegations against Masterson, described as a “church celebrity” in coverage by the Underground Bunker. Masterson was convicted of rape in 2023, according to PBS News.
The Boies Schiller motion was filed in an appeal by the church that sought dismissal of the case.
The Church of Scientology pointed out the mistakes in a brief.
“Multiple sections of plaintiffs’ brief are filled with erroneous citations that mischaracterize holdings and refer to cases on unrelated areas of law,” the Church of Scientology lawyers wrote. “Some cases are mistitled such that it is difficult to determine what cases plaintiffs are intending to cite in the first place. And one case plaintiffs cite is completely made up.”
In his declaration, Kucera said Boies Schiller “has adopted policies and implemented trainings intended to protect against the risks of the improper use of artificial intelligence.” Firm lawyers are expected to “to scrupulously proofread and cite check” briefs, but he personally failed to do so, he wrote.
Boies Schiller did not immediately respond to the ABA Journal’s request for comment.
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