In what appears to be an unintentional error, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, used artificial intelligence to conduct legal research that resulted in the citation of fake court cases in his bid to reduce his term of supervised release, according to Cohen and his attorney in court filings opened on Friday. This came after the court threatened to sanction Cohen’s lawyer after discovering that his legal filing referenced non-existent court cases.
Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman noted in a court filing earlier in December that Cohen’s request to terminate his supervised release cited multiple court cases to support his legal argument, but “these cases do not exist,” and he asked Cohen’s attorney, David Schwartz, to provide the cited rulings to the court and explain to Furman why Schwartz should not be sanctioned for referencing fake court cases.
What to Watch
It is unclear when Furman might issue a ruling on whether to sanction Schwartz and regarding Cohen’s motion to shorten his supervised release. Cohen was sentenced to three years of supervised release, which began in November 2021 when he completed his prison term. According to foundational data, “Mr. Cohen is not a practicing attorney and has no understanding of the risks of using AI services for legal research – nor does he bear any ethical obligation to verify the accuracy of his research,” Perry claimed in court.
Background
Cohen was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in 2018. Trump’s former “fixer” was found guilty of evading $1.4 million in taxes, lying to Congress, and committing violations of campaign finance laws due to payments to “hush money” for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who claimed during Trump’s 2016 campaign that they had affairs with the former candidate. Cohen began his prison term in May 2019 and it concluded briefly in November 2021, having initially spent some time in prison before being ordered to remain under house arrest during the early days of the COVID pandemic. He returned to prison briefly before being released back to house arrest in July 2020, where the judge found that Cohen’s reincarceration was a political vendetta by the Trump administration due to him publishing a critical book about the former president. Cohen has become a vocal opponent of the former president since he was implicated in acts he performed on Trump’s behalf, recently testifying against Trump in his ongoing civil fraud trial.
Stunning Fact
Not only is Cohen’s legal filing not the first instance to reveal the risks of using AI to assist in litigation. Two lawyers in New York were fined $5,000 each in June for submitting a legal brief that referenced fake court cases generated by ChatGPT, with the judge ordering the attorneys to pay the penalty for “avoidance actions and false and misleading statements to the court.” A proposed plan to allow a “robot lawyer” to defend a case in court using AI was scrapped in January after the CEO of DoNotPay, the company behind the plan, stated that the “Attorney General” had threatened him with jail time if he proceeded with the plan, arguing that the use of a robotic lawyer violated court rules requiring parties to agree on recording sessions (which a robot cannot do).
Further Reading
Michael Cohen’s attorney’s early probation release request cites fake cases, according to the court
New York lawyers sanctioned for using fake court cases in legal brief
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