A Canadian lawyer has been suspended for six months after a judge exposed fake legal citations created by ChatGPT in a court hearing.The Law Society of Ontario’s Disciplinary Tribunal suspended Mary Hyun Suk Lee, who practices as Jisoo Lee, after finding that she committed professional misconduct by relying on AI-generated case law that was either fabricated or irrelevant to the family and estate law matter, the National Post reported.The court ordered Lee to complete remedial measures during her suspension and pay C$10,000 in costs after concluding that she failed to properly represent her client and intentionally misled the court through her submissions.The disciplinary action follows a hearing in the Ontario Superior Court last year, where Justice Fred Myers questioned the validity of several issues mentioned in Lee’s written submissions. When asked to provide copies of the authorities she relied on, Lee was unable to provide them, prompting the judge to research the issues himself.According to the court’s findings, some of the decisions cited cannot be found in any legal database, while others have no relation to the issues before the court or are inconsistent with the arguments presented by me. In one case, a case cited as supporting the removal of an estate trustee was found to have reached the opposite conclusion.Judge Myers asked whether artificial intelligence had been used to prepare the material.
In his written reasons, he noted that Lee said her office did not typically rely on such tools, but she would need to confirm that with her clerk.The court found that Lee’s conduct fell below the standard expected of a lawyer, stating that she relied on facts containing non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an artificial intelligence tool and misled the court in doing so.Toronto lawyer Tom McIntosh Cheng, who tracks the use of AI in legal practice and was cited by the outlet, said the case represents the first time a Canadian legal community has suspended a lawyer for misusing AI in court submissions, rather than issuing a reprimand.Cheng added that the case highlights growing concerns within the profession about the risks posed by unverified material generated by artificial intelligence. “There is increasing scrutiny about how lawyers use these tools, especially when they affect the integrity of court proceedings,” he said.The judge emphasized that lawyers have a fundamental duty to check the authorities they represent. He wrote that it should be self-evident that lawyers should read and confirm the cases they cite and should not rely on authorities that do not exist or support the opposite of their position.Separate civil contempt proceedings against Lee are ongoing. The court appointed an amicus curiae, an independent lawyer, to assist the court, citing procedural uncertainties, including Lee’s failure to retain legal counsel.