David Kluft

#LegalEthics Tidbit #Halloween Edition: Am I a “ghostwriter” if I don’t actually write anything? A RI attorney’s friend was named as a defendant in a personal injury suit. The friend represented herself pro se, and the attorney did not ... (cont.) www.courts.ri.gov/Opinions/EAP... #law #lawsky

... by signing the pleading or entering his or her appearance.” The Panel then looked at the Black’s Law definition of drafting: “[t]he skill, technique, and practice of preparing operative legal documents ...” Because the lawyer wasn’t actually “preparing or drafting” documents, ... (cont.)

... what she was doing did not amount to “ghostwriting” under Rhode Island law, and therefore the attorney’s role behind the scenes need not to disclosed to the court.

... and commenting on early drafts. Another party in the litigation suggested that the attorney’s assistance amounted to “ghostwriting,” and therefore should be disclosed pursuant to RI Rule 1.2, which has a specific disclosure requirement for lawyers whose representation ... (cont.)

... is limited to “drafting services.” The attorney contacted the RI Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel for its opinion. The Panel looked to the RI definition of ghostwriting: “providing drafting assistance to a pro se litigant without disclosing his or her identity to the court either ...(cont.)

... draft anything for her. However, the attorney provided various informal assistance, including answering legal questions over the phone, directing the friend to legal resources, describing the litigation process, providing sample documents, orally suggesting language for filings, ... (cont.)

#LegalEthics Tidbit #Halloween edition: Can the presiding judge dress up as Elvis for Halloween? A MO judge was charged with three counts of misconduct. Count one was all about Elvis Presley. The judge was charged with (1) dressing up as ... (cont.) www.courts.mo.gov/file/SC/Opin... #law #lawsky

...Elvis on Halloween (2) allowing litigants to be sworn in to Elvis lyrics; (3) during court proceedings, referring to random irrelevant facts about Elvis’ life; (4) quoting Elvis lyrics in court; and (5) playing Elvis music from his phone to introduce himself while entering the courtroom...(cont.)

... This conduct was alleged to violate a number of judicial conduct rules regarding promoting confidence in the integrity of the judiciary, competence and diligence, and maintaining courtroom decorum. For this and other (more serious) misconduct, the MO Supreme Court removed him from the bench.

#LegalEthics Tidbit #Halloween edition: If I’m just ghostwriting for a pro se litigant, do I have to file a notice of limited appearance? Ohio Advisory Opinion 2026-01 addresses ghostwriting, which has been defined as “a lawyer providing legal ...(cont.) ohioadvop.org/wp-content/u... #law #lawsky

... ghostwriting is limited assistant representation, and because Ohio of Civil Procedure do require lawyers in a limited assistance role to file a notice of limited appearance, lawyers serving as ghostwriters must file one of these notices to let the court they are involved in the ... (cont.)

... case, if only in a limited capacity. [Ed. Note that other jurisdictions may require ghostwriters to announce themselves in other ways, such as by disclosing “prepared with the assistance of counsel” on ghostwritten documents – see e.g., Massachusetts Trial Court Rule XVI(9)].

... services typically through the drafting of pleadings or other case documents, to a pro se litigant, when the lawyer’s identity will not be disclosed to the court, the lawyer will not make a formal appearance in the litigation, and the lawyer will not sign the pleadings or case ... (cont.)

... documents filed with the court.” Ghostwriting, done properly, is a form of limited assistance representation, where the client and lawyer have agreed (in writing where required) to discrete services, leaving other tasks to the client. The Ohio opinion opines that because ... (cont.)

#LegalEthics Tidbit #Halloween Edition: Can I “amend away” my #AI hallucinations in a “Frankenstein” filing? A NY attorney filed a petition on behalf of clients challenging an action of a local government. The attorney claims he did ... (cont.) www.nycourts.gov/reporter/cur... #law #lawsky

... petition are still reliant on the fraudulent legal citations from the original petition, even though the citations had been removed. Allowing the amendment would require opposing counsel “and the Court to essentially ‘Frankenstein’ the 55-page petition to determine which ... (cont.)

... allegations are based in legitimate law and which are not.” Sanctions included a $5,000 fine, $10,000 in attorneys’ fees, and the matter was dismissed (but without prejudice).

... 46-page memo of law). Opposing counsel brought the problem to his attention, but the attorney “doubled down” by denying any problems and threatening opposing counsel with a sanctions motion. When the judge got involved, the lawyer became penitent ... (cont.)

... and admitted the problem. He filed a 55-page amended petition that was “essentially the same petition” minus the citations to fraudulent authorities. The Court held that it was inappropriate to allow the lawyer to “amend away the fraud” because the propositions of law in the amended ... (cont.)

... the research on Westlaw and then ran it through “Spellbook AI” just to “enhance writing and detect drafting errors.” He did not reverify the citations after that, so he didn’t catch myriad hallucinated citations (apparently only five citations were legit over a 64-page petition and ... (cont.)

Happy #Caturday from Derry Girl, who is hanging out in the garden. #cats #tortie #catsofbluesky

#LegalEthics Tidbit: Can I manage by workload efficiently by letting my client and #AI co-write the brief? A FL plaintiff filed a pro se complaint containing #AI hallucinations. When the defendant moved to dismiss, the ... (cont.) caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-dis... #Law #lawsky

... expense,” let his client “provide research materials and authorities for his consideration.” He then incorporated his firm’s #AI platform “as one component of the legal research and drafting process.” Reading between the lines, it looks like the lawyer took his client’s work, fed it ... (cont.)

.. into AI to draft the brief, and then (in the name of cost control) didn’t review the citations. The lawyer came clean after an order to show cause. The Court of Appeal ordered a sanction of attorneys’ fees in an amount to be determined by the lower court.

... plaintiff hired a lawyer and filed an amended complaint without hallucinations. However, they plaintiff eventually lost the case and appealed. On appeal, the plaintiff’s appellate counsel, “in an effort to manage his work efficiently and control litigation ... (cont.)

storage.courtlistener.comOrder AND Order on Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim AND Order on Motion to Dismiss/Lack of Jurisdiction AND Order on Motion to Dismiss/Lack of Prosecution AND Order on Motion to Strike A...ORDER: Plaintiff's counsel David Reyes is ordered to cover all costs and fees incurred by Defendant in defending this lawsuit. Motion 16 to enforce the settlement agreement is denied. Motion 21 to dis...

#LegalEthics Tidbit: Can I move to enforce a settlement if the defendant and plaintiff sign different agreements? An IL attorney representing the plaintiff in an Americans with Disabilities Act claim submitted Settlement Agreement A to ... (cont.) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... #law

... propounding discovery requests before a Rule 26(f) conference. As a sanction, the Court ordered the lawyer personally to pay for all the defendant’s costs and fees in the whole litigation. The Court ordered the parties to meet and confer to figure out how high that bill would be, and ... (cont.)

... further ordered that the lawyer would also have to pay for the meet and confer. [Ed. Note: This same lawyer has since been caught filing #AI hallucinations in two other IL federal court cases]

... A few months later, the lawyer moved to enforce Settlement Agreement A against the defendant. The court ordered him to submit an affidavit indicating when and how the parties reached a settlement, along with any settlement communications. The lawyer omitted from his ... (cont.)

Massachusetts IOLTA Committee

... affidavit the fact that his own client had rejected the settlement agreement he was moving to enforce. The Court issued Rule 11 sanctions for the above conduct, as well as for some hallucinated citations generated by #AI misuse, and running up costs in bad faith by ... (cont.)

... the defendant without discussing it with his client. The defendant signed it. When he brought it to his client to sign, she refused, but she agreed to sign a slightly modified Settlement Agreement B. The defendant, however, refused to sign Settlement Agreement B. ... (cont.)

David Kluft reposted

@maiolta.bsky.social

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storage.courtlistener.comOrder on Motion for Sanctions – #107 in Sloan v. Redi Services LLC (D. Wyo., 2:22-cv-00233) – CourtListener.comOrder on Motion for Sanctions

#LegalEthics Tidbit: Can my client instruct me not to share information within my firm? A WY civil litigant with counsel decided to file a pro se motion for sanctions against both opposing counsel and against her ... (cont.) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... #law #lawsky

... may, in the course of the firm's practice, disclose to each other information relating to a client of the firm, unless the client has instructed that particular information be confined to specified lawyers” (ABA and many states have the same comment). Because there was no ... (cont.)

... evidence the client had instructed the associate not to share the information (and for other reasons), the motion was denied.

storage.courtlistener.comOrder on Motion for Sanctions – #107 in Sloan v. Redi Services LLC (D. Wyo., 2:22-cv-00233) – CourtListener.comOrder on Motion for Sanctions

... own lawyers. As to the sanctions against her own lawyers, she claimed she shared information with an associate at the firm, and that he breached confidentiality by sharing the information with others at the firm. The court cited to Comment 5 to the WY Rule 1.6: “Lawyers in a firm ... (cont.)

#LegalEthics Tidbit: If the court denies a lawyer’s pro hac vice application, can local counsel just allow the lawyer to ghostwrite all the pleadings anyway? An AZ lawyer was hired as local counsel by a TX lawyer on some patent cases...(cont) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... #law #lawsky

... to “explain how the patent at issue operates in a simplified manner.” Nor could he explain why certain exhibits, which “appeared to have nothing to do with the case,” were attached to his complaint (turns out these exhibits were generated by the #AI platform being used by the TX... (cont.)

... lawyer). AZ local counsel was also pretty evasive with the court about what he knew when. The Court issued a show cause order as to why local counsel should not be sanctioned for lack of diligence, assisting in the unauthorized practice of law, and dishonesty with the Court.

...The TX lawyer was involved in a sanctions proceeding in CA, and the AZ clerk told him that his pro hac vice applications were going to be denied until the CA sanctions were resolved. So, the TX lawyer didn’t bother filing pro hac vice applications, but he had AZ local counsel file new... (cont.)

... patent cases with himself as the only counsel listed, and the TX Lawyer ghostwrote all the pleadings. The AZ local counsel admittedly was “not qualified to handle patent matters” and it is not really clear he knew what the cases were about. When pressed by the court, he was not able... (cont.)

#LegalEthics Tidbit: If I failed to review my #AI generated brief, but there were no hallucinations in it, did I still violate Rule 11? A NY federal Magistrate found that a lawyer violated Rule 11 by misusing artificial intelligence in a ... (cont.) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... #law

... The judge ordered that the Magistrate’s order be corrected to reflect that. However, the court did not reconsider the ruling that the lawyer violated Rule 11, because the ruling did not rest solely on that fabricated case, but also on the lawyer’s “repeated admissions that ... (cont.)

... he did not review opinions prior to citing them in his filings.”

...case. The lawyer admitted that he didn’t review the citations in his #AI-generated brief before submitting it. The Magistrate found that one particular case was “an obvious hallucination ... that does not exist and is fictious” because it was an “entirely fabricated ... (cont.)