Tracker

Sanctions watch

Every incident where a lawyer got caught filing AI-fabricated citations. The Hall of Shame.

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Incidents tracked

Incidents in 2026

$11,000

In fines, where reported

2 of 2 report an amount

The curve

Incidents per month

Last 18 months of published incidents, by the date of the court's order.

Apr 2025 Jan 2026 Sep 2026

Blamed by name

ChatGPT 53 Claude 4 Lexis+ AI 4 Westlaw Precision 4 CoCounsel 3 Copilot 2 AI-assisted legal software 1 Archie 1 ChatOn 1 ClearBrief 1 CoCounsel, Westlaw Precision, Google Gem 1 Descrybe.ai 1 First Drafts 1 Gemini 1 Ghostwriter Legal 1 Google AI 1 Google Scholar 1 Grok 1 Irys 1 vLex Fastcase 1

Counts only incidents where the filing court or the reporting named the tool.

Hall of Shame

All Warned 5 Fined 2 Referred to the bar 1

Showing 1–2 of 2 incidents involving Copilot. Clear filters

Fined $5K Copilot 2026-06-11

Ginsburg filed a brief with a fake case, fake quotes, and incorrect legal propositions, and the court imposed sanctions and struck the response.

McCormick v. Texakoma Financial, Inc. · Amy L.B. Ginsburg · U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas · TX

“If someone—even an intern—gets the case name, number, year, and quotation wrong, they are not struggling with research or citation formatting. They are struggling with honesty.”

tcpaworld.com ↗

The file →

McCormick v. Texakoma Financial, Inc. against Amy L.B. Ginsburg
Brief contained a fake case, fake quotes, and incorrect legal propositions
Court ordered a $5,000 penalty and struck the response
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Texas
June 11, 2026; court also ordered publication, CLE, and future verification certification

Fined $6K Copilot 2025-07-07

Post-trial filings contained about 30 defective citations generated by Copilot, Gemini, and Grok, and Judge Nina Y. Wang imposed sanctions.

Coomer v. Lindell · Christopher I. Kachouroff; Jennifer T. DeMaster; MyPillow attorneys · U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado · CO

“the “least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.””

llms-for-lawyers.com ↗

The file →

Coomer v. Lindell involving two attorneys representing Mike Lindell.
Attorneys used Copilot, Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity resulting in fake citations.
Fined $3,000 each (total $6,000), with an additional $5,000 fine on one attorney later.
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Dated July 7, 2025; attorneys relied on a wide array of public consumer chatbots.

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