Two New Orleans Attorneys Resign After Filing Fake AI-Generated Case Citations
Two attorneys in New Orleans' law department have resigned following an investigation that found they used artificial intelligence to create fabricated case citations in a court filing.
Assistant City Attorney Jalen Harris and Deputy City Attorney James Roquemore submitted a motion in January 2026 that contained nine made-up case citations generated by ChatGPT. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana discovered the false citations and ordered both attorneys to appear in court.
The motion was filed in a civil rights lawsuit against New Orleans, former Mayor LaToya Cantrell, the New Orleans Police Department, and several officers. The plaintiff claims the defendants violated his constitutional rights.
How the Citations Were Generated
Harris admitted during a March hearing that he used ChatGPT to help research the motion after initially searching Westlaw, an online legal research database. He said he turned to AI to speed up the work.
Harris did not verify whether the AI-generated cases were real and did not read them before including them in the brief. He apologized repeatedly in court.
Roquemore reviewed the motion before filing but did not question the unusual formatting of the fake citations. As Harris's supervisor, Roquemore bore greater responsibility, according to the court.
Sanctions Imposed
Judge Barbier ordered Harris to pay a $250 fine and Roquemore to pay $1,000.
For government attorneys, the case underscores the risks of using AI for legal work without verification. Court filings require accuracy and truthfulness - standards that AI tools cannot guarantee.
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