GoKawiilLegal teams that are increasingly relying on AI tools to help generate some of their legal work are doing so at their peril. In a recent Mississippi case in federal court, lawyers on both sides of a dispute over a solar project's fees were disciplined for using AI software that hallucinated cases or included cases in filings that weren't part of state law.
The case, Withers v. City of Aberdeen, involved a dispute between a lawyer, Tom Withers III, and the city of Aberdeen, Miss. Withers claimed the city owed him fees involving a solar development project. He wasn't one of the lawyers reprimanded, but his legal team was, as were lawyers representing the city, when a judge determined that four of them -- two of them on each side -- had used AI in filings that weren't properly verified by human lawyers.
The outcome drew the attention of The New York Times, among other outlets, and could come to represent a cautionary tale for those in the legal profession. It was first spotted by marketing and commerce lawyer Rob Freund who posted about it on X, calling it a "comedy of AI errors."
Comedy of AI errors: Lawyers on both sides of a case misuse AI, cite fake hallucinated cases.
At the show-cause hearing, "each of the attorneys expressed embarrassment and apologized to the Court."
"Neither of them verified the legal authority output by AI before filing their… pic.twitter.com/8iogjshrep — Rob Freund (@RobertFreundLaw) June 9, 2026
The website 404 Media reported on Freund's post, drawing national attention to the cse.
US District Judge Sharion Aycock fined the four lawyers and shut down the case over the AI errors, among other legal sanctions.
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