Artificial Intelligence is a new form of technological advancement that is revolutionary and leaps and bounds beyond anything that previously existed. Most people have no idea how it works or what it does. At present it looks like it will be very useful in the fields of medicine, drug development, engineering, and date analysis, as well as having many other uses with new uses for it being found every day.
However, should your personal injury lawyer be using Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is known?
My first query would be: If a personal injury lawyer, with any experience in the field, has a case representing an injured construction worker, or a motor vehicle or slip and fall or products liability-should that lawyer know the controlling law? Should the lawyer know enough to recognize when reading law from nonexistent cases? Should the lawyer representing victims who were seriously injured in an accident know enough to do the basic research to learn the law, without trying to use an apparent shortcut, such as AI?
My next query would be: After a lawyer does decide to use AI for their research, how well does that lawyer know the relevant law? How well is that lawyer representing his injured client?
To see what is the status of AI by personal injury attorneys I turned to Google and asked it for “misuse of AI by personal injury attorneys”.
What I found was very surprising.
Attorneys, Steven A. Schwartz and Peter LoDuca filed a case for an injury on a flight against the Avianca airline. They filed legal documents with the Court that included citations to court cases that were invented by the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot they used ChatGPT.
They admitted that they never bothered to take the time to try and read the actual cases. Had they tried to do that, some basic rudimentary research, they would have discovered the nonexistence of the cited cases, before having it brought to their attention by their adversary and a very irate Federal Judge. See Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F. Supp. 3d 443 (S.D.N.Y. 2023).
The firm that advertises itself as “the world’s largest injury law firm”, Morgan and Morgan, was recently fined for using Artificial Intelligence. A lawyer for the firm submitted a brief with nonexistent case law citations. Unfortunately, the AI he used simply invented and created case law.
The attorney from Morgan and Morgan handling the case, his supervisor, and local counsel were all sanctioned and fined by the Federal Judge.
Everyone has also heard of disbarred attorney Michael Cohen, who was Donald Trump’s personal attorney for many years. Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in Federal Court, in August of 2018, to many counts, including campaign-finance violations, tax fraud and evasion, and bank fraud.
Years later, in an effort to have his sentence reduced, Mr. Cohen, through his attorney, submitted a legal brief to the Court. He had used AI to prepare the brief. Unfortunately, the precedents he used and cited were nonexistent. It seems that the AI he used simply invented and created case law.
Mr. Cohen admitted using AI only after the Federal Judge asked for an explanation as to how court citations and principles of law that do not exist were cited in the motion submitted on Cohen’s behalf.
These are just a few of the many examples that appeared on a Google search of personal injury, and other lawyers, using AI without taking the time to actually read the law. It does seem basic that all lawyers, including injury lawyers, must check and verify that what they are submitting to the Court is accurate. This means lawyers must actually still read and know the cases and principles that set the precedents for the issues they are facing.
It seems that AI is not yet ready for use by the legal profession based on the many recent experiences of lawyers who have used it. One can only wonder how many lawyers have tried to use AI in their legal research, but then did take the time to actually try read the cases that AI cited and discovered that they were nonexistent?
I have been unable to find any meaningful research that quantifies and alerts attorneys to AI’s error rate while doing legal research. This information is certainly not forthcoming from the companies trying to sell AI to the legal community.
At my firm, Jaroslawicz and Jaros we are proud of the fact that we know the law! We know the law because over our 45 years of practice as Jaroslawicz and Jaros we have successfully handled thousands of personal injury cases, at all levels of the State and Federal Courts, that resulted in hundreds of Appeals to the higher Courts. Because, we have written and argued our own Appeals-we know the law. We helped develop and create the law in many areas of personal injury.
We have handled dozens of construction worker injury cases on that went to an appeal and that that have then become the established law for injured construction workers who were hurt on the job. We are proud that our cases are often cited by the Appellate Courts as being the controlling law.
It was our successful Appellate brief that recently explained the law for establishing liability and winning the case on a Motion for Summary Judgment in a trip and fall on a raised sidewalk case.
It was our case on an Appeal to New York’s highest Court, the Court of Appeals, that is most often cited for when there is a conflict of laws between two states. We also helped establish the law for toxic mold injuries as well as sexual harassment at a security exchange.
I recall many years ago watching David Jaroslawicz argue a case before the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. The opposing counsel, while arguing the case, cited three cases as precedent that he said supported his client’s position. Mr. Jaroslawicz immediately during this oral argument distinguished those cases on the specific facts of those cases.
When we left the courtroom, I asked him how he knew all of the facts of those cited cases. He laughed and said that before a lawyer cites a case, he should first look to see who the lawyers were on those cases. It seems that Mr. Jaroslawicz had been the attorney on the cases cited by opposing counsel so he knew the underlying facts.
So, when seeking an attorney to represent you in a personal injury lawsuit, hire a firm, and lawyers, with the experience, knowledge and track record to be successful if they accept your case.
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