Attorneys—Track AI Hallucination Cases With This New Tool

The legal profession has a new essential resource that could save your reputation, your career and your clients’ cases. It’s not filled with actual case law, but rather with cautionary tales that every attorney needs to understand.

The AI Hallucination Cases database, maintained by legal researcher Damien Charlotin, systematically tracks every documented instance where attorneys have submitted artificial intelligence-generated fake legal citations to courts worldwide. With over two-hundred cases documented and counting, this represents a valuable resource for attorneys on how AI tools create fictional case citations that look completely legitimate.

Each entry provides detailed information about the specific court, the nature of the AI hallucinations, the sanctions imposed and the monetary penalties assessed. It’s practical intelligence that can help you avoid making the same mistakes that have already caused reputation damage to other attorneys, and in some cases, their careers.

Tracking AI Hallucination Cases: Why Attorneys Should Bookmark This Database

Understanding why this database exists requires grasping the fundamental challenge that AI tools present to legal practice. When attorneys use AI like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok for research, these tools sometimes generate citations that look entirely legitimate but correspond to cases that never existed. The database illustrates that this is more than just a rare glitch. It’s a systematic problem affecting attorneys across all practice areas and experience levels.

The database serves two primary functions that make it essential for legal professionals:

• It provides concrete evidence of the scope and seriousness of the AI hallucination problem. Rather than relying on anecdotal reports, you can see exactly how many attorneys have faced sanctions, what types of cases are most commonly fabricated, and which jurisdictions are taking the strictest approach to enforcement.
• The database serves as a detailed case study collection that helps you understand the warning signs of AI hallucinations. By examining the patterns revealed across multiple cases, you can learn to recognize the types of citations that should trigger additional verification and the circumstances that make hallucinations more likely to occur.

The database is designed to be searchable and filterable, allowing you to find information most relevant to your practice. You can search by jurisdiction to see how courts in your area have handled AI hallucination cases, filter by practice area to understand risks specific to your field, or examine cases involving particular AI tools you might be considering using.

AI Hallucination Cases: Patterns Every Attorney Should Understand

The database reveals several consistent patterns that every legal professional should understand. One of the most striking findings is how sophisticated AI hallucinations can be. These aren’t obviously fake citations with nonsensical party names or impossible dates. Instead, they often involve plausible case names, proper citation formats and legal reasoning that sounds entirely legitimate.

AI tools frequently generate citations that include all the elements attorneys expect to see: believable party names, appropriate court jurisdictions, realistic dates and even fabricated quotations that align with the legal arguments being made.

AI Hallucination Cases: Geographic and Practice Area Scope

AI hallucinations in legal practice are not confined to any particular jurisdiction or area of law. Cases have emerged across the United States in federal and state courts, and international entries include incidents from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Israel, Brazil and several other countries.

The practice area coverage is equally comprehensive. The database includes cases from family law, criminal defense, civil rights litigation, personal injury, immigration law, corporate law and virtually every other area of legal practice. This broad scope means that no attorney can assume they’re immune from AI hallucination risks simply because they practice in a particular field.

Your Next Steps: How to Access The Tracker

The AI Hallucination Cases database is freely accessible online and regularly updated as new cases emerge. Legal professionals should bookmark this resource and check it regularly to stay informed about new developments and trends. The database’s search and filtering capabilities make it easy to find information relevant to your specific practice area and jurisdiction.

When evaluating AI tools for your practice, use the database to understand the track record of different platforms and the types of verification procedures that have proven most effective. If you’re developing AI use policies for your firm, the database provides concrete examples of what can go wrong.

Most importantly, treat the database as an ongoing educational resource rather than a one-time consultation. The legal profession’s relationship with AI technology is evolving rapidly, and the database provides real-time documentation of that evolution. Every legal professional who wants to use AI tools safely and effectively should make this resource a regular part of their professional development routine.