Why Certavi
Whether it comes from AI or from a rushed paralegal, a fabricated citation in your filing carries the same sanctions. The fix is a five-minute check before filing.
S.D.N.Y. · 2023
$5,000 fine
The landmark case. Attorney used ChatGPT to draft a brief with numerous fabricated cases. When challenged, he asked the AI to confirm they were real and submitted those assurances to the court. Judge P. Kevin Castel found subjective bad faith.
Wikipedia / NYT (June 2023)Colorado · 2024
2-year suspension
Attorney used ChatGPT to generate a motion in a custody case with fabricated citations and fake judicial quotes. Did not verify a single citation before filing. Lost his license for two years.
ABA Journal (2024)E.D.N.C. · Late 2025
AUSA terminated
An Assistant U.S. Attorney filed a brief with fabricated quotations from real cases. The errors were caught not by the court, but by a pro se plaintiff who verified the citations themselves.
Platinum IDS (2026)The volume, reporter, and page look normal, but the citation has no matching record. The LLM invented it wholesale.
The case exists. The quoted language does not appear in the opinion. An AI stitched a plausible sentence onto a real citation.
Slip opinions, unusual state reporters, or citation strings where we cannot confidently determine volume and reporter. Flagged UNVERIFIED so you can confirm manually.
Certavi verifies citation existence only. It does not verify legal argument, relevance, or subsequent history. A citation that exists can still be overruled, distinguished, or wrong for your facts. That judgment is yours.
We report what authoritative databases returned and what you confirmed. The certificate says the attorney certified — not that Certavi certified.