Sullivan & Cromwell Apologizes for AI Errors in Court Filing
Sullivan & Cromwell, one of Wall Street's largest law firms, submitted a federal court filing containing fabricated case citations and legal sources generated by artificial intelligence. The firm apologized to the judge and the opposing counsel after the errors were discovered.
In an April 18 letter to Martin Glenn, chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Andrew Dietderich, co-head of the firm's global restructuring group, acknowledged the mistakes. He called them AI "hallucinations" - instances where AI systems invent case citations, misquote law, or create non-existent legal sources.
Boies Schiller Flexner, the opposing law firm in the case, caught the errors and flagged them. Dietderich said he called Boies Schiller to thank them and apologize directly.
Policies Not Followed
Sullivan & Cromwell told the judge it maintains policies and training requirements for using AI tools in legal work. Those safeguards failed in this instance. A secondary review process also missed the inaccurate citations before the filing went to court.
The firm did not disclose which AI program generated the errors. It later filed a corrected version.
The letter did not explain why the firm's internal controls broke down or how the filing passed review.
Broader Pattern
U.S. judges have sanctioned lawyers in dozens of cases after they used AI for legal research and drafting without proper verification. Lawyers are not prohibited from using AI but are ethically required to ensure the accuracy of all court submissions.
Sullivan & Cromwell, based in New York with more than 900 lawyers, is known for mergers and acquisitions work, corporate governance litigation, and private equity matters.
The Case
The firm represents foreign representatives in the wind-down of Prince Global Holdings Limited, a Cambodian conglomerate. The company's founder and chairman, Chen Zhi, was charged in Brooklyn federal court with allegedly directing forced labor compounds and orchestrating a massive investment fraud.
Prince Global denied the allegations in a statement last year, calling them baseless.
Learn more: AI for Legal covers how law firms are implementing AI tools for research and document review. AI Learning Path for Paralegals addresses the document review and legal research automation where these errors typically occur.
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