AI Hallucination Cases

Counsel admitted the list of authorities and accompanying summaries were generated by an AI research module embedded in his legal practice software. He stated he did not verify the content before submitting it. The judge found that neither Counsel nor any other legal practitioner at his firm had checked the validity of the generated output.

The court accepted Counsel’s unconditional apology, noted remedial steps, and acknowledged his cooperation and candour. However, it nonetheless referred the matter to the Office of the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner under s 30 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (Vic) for independent assessment. The referral was explicitly framed as non-punitive and in the public interest.

In September 2025, the Board sanctioned Counsel, preventing him from acting as a principal lawyer or operate his own practice, and put him down for two years of supervision (see here).

The appellant's submissions included a misleading reference to a High Court case, De L v Director-General, NSW Department of Community Services, misrepresenting its relevance to false testimony, which was not the case's subject matter, and a fabricated reference to Hewitt v Omari [2015] NSWCA 175, which does not exist. The appeal was dismissed, considering the lack of progress and potential prejudice to the respondent.

Applicant (unrepresented) provided a list of 24 authorities claimed to show instances where MinterEllison had been restrained. Court's associate and judge found the list contained fabricated or misdescribed citations; judge characterised the provision of those authorities as an egregious instance of misleading the court but did not impose professional sanctions. Restraint application dismissed on merits.

"Mr Nash is unrepresented. He prepared the appellant's case himself, although it appears that he may have had some assistance with later submissions (including, perhaps, from an artificial intelligence program such as Chat GPT). Neither form of submission made coherent submissions as to why the trial judge's decision was affected by material error or otherwise gave rise to a miscarriage of justice. Nor did the material sought to be adduced by Mr Nash as additional evidence on the appeal disclose any miscarriage of justice.

[...]. There is otherwise no jurisdictional basis to transfer criminal proceedings under State law in this Court to the court of another State. The authorities cited by Mr Nash in support of such jurisdiction do not exist; they are fictitious."

The court dismissed the appeal, finding no merit in the grounds presented, and refused to admit additional evidence. No professional sanctions or monetary penalties were imposed as Nash was a pro se litigant.