Did your AI write that citation?
Would you bet your license on it?

Find out before
the court does.

$109,700

Record sanction for AI-hallucinated citations

Deterministic

No AI in the verification loop

≥90%

Fuzzy-match threshold for quoted language

Check a citation for free

Certavi verifies legal citations against live federal and state court databases.

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The cost of filing unchecked

Real sanctions. Real careers on the line.

Sixth Circuit · March 2026

Whiting v. City of Athens, Tennessee

$15,000 per attorney + double costs

20+ fabricated citations in one filing. Both attorneys of record were individually sanctioned and required to pay the opposing party's fees. The panel wrote that a fake opinion is not existing law.

D.N.J. · April 2026

Gutierrez v. Lorenzo Food Group

Monetary sanctions + 2 CLE courses

A paralegal substituted Third Circuit citations for non-Third Circuit cases. The citations had been bad law for decades. The signing attorney reviewed only an early draft and never checked the final version.

These are just two of the cases we know about. See more on Why Certavi

How verification works

Extract

Our private internal engine extracts every citation from your brief: case law, statutes, regulations, and quoted passages. Your documents never leave our secure environment and are never sent to public AI systems.

Verify

Each citation is cross-referenced against CourtListener (included), plus Westlaw, LexisNexis, and PACER when you connect your account. Deterministic queries only. No AI in the verification loop.

Certify

You review results, certify them, and download a signed certificate. Proof of due diligence, ready for the file.

Monitor

Verified citations are automatically tracked. We check three times daily for changes (overruled, reversed, or new opinions) and alert you before you walk into court.

Where we check