Lawyer apologizes for ‘phantom’ AI quotes in Trump layoffs case

A lawyer from Binnall Law Group, Jason Greaves, apologized to a federal judge for including AI-generated “phantom” quotations in a court filing related to Trump administration’s firing of government employees.
Greaves admitted to using Anthropic’s Claude Console for the initial draft but did not properly review the content, blaming time constraints for overlooking the errors.
The law firm is representing a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security deputy chief of staff, Joseph Guy, as a witness in a suit against Trump administration layoffs.
Numerous attorneys have faced sanctions or received reprimands since the advent of generative AI in 2022 for improperly using AI without due diligence.
Greaves took full responsibility and apologized for the misuse of AI, while his firm’s founding partner, Jesse Binnall, called it an embarrassing “unacceptable” mistake and vowed it wouldn’t recur.
Judge Susan Illston was troubled by the inclusion of non-existent quotations in the filing.
The law firm said it will implement additional safeguards, including further training, to prevent future occurrences.
The firm has established policies to restrict the use of AI tools for legal research and drafting, advocating the use of traditional platforms such as Westlaw or LexisNexis.

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