FLORIDA APPELLATE COURT REFERS ATTORNEY TO FLORIDA BAR DUE TO MISUSE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (“AI”)
Florida’s Fourth DCA referred Attorney Barry Leff to the Florida Bar for disciplinary proceedings after discovering Leff’s certiorari petition cited a non-existent case, cited cases that did not stand for the premises he argued and failed to cite cases that were directly contrary to his argument for certiorari jurisdiction. Jmor Props., LLC v. Artist Alley Townhomes, LLC, No. 4D2026- 1787, 2026 Fla. App. LEXIS 6107, at *1, 3 (4th DCA Aug. 12, 2026).
The Court issued a show cause order identifying the above issues and providing an opportunity for Leff to address the deficiencies in his petition.i Leff filed a timely response accepting responsibility and advising that he did not intend to mislead the Court but “merely submitted the wrong draft” of his certiorari petition.ii Leff admitted that AI researched and drafted his first version of the certiorari petition, but he claimed that he revised the initial draft by including only verified citations and removing “the fake and false citations.” Leff claimed that “while he was making final edits, he inadvertently worked from the wrong version and “ended up filing the AI’s initial draft” instead of the revised version of the petition.
The Court found Leff’s explanation inadequate to excuse his “failure to verify the accuracy of all citations in his filing,” and noted his response failed to address the omission of “clearly established law that [was] contrary to counsel’s argument for certiorari jurisdiction.”iii Expressing its doubts as to the veracity of Leff’s explanation, the Court noted that “[a]ny competent research” would have revealed caselaw which established the court lacked jurisdiction. The Court reiterated that neither version of the certiorari petition included any of the “abundant,” but adverse caselaw from decades ago that demonstrated the Court lacked jurisdiction.
The Court found that Leff violated his “duty of competence” by failing to include dispositive caselaw and violated his duty to ensure his filings are accurate by citing non-existent caselaw and caselaw that did not stand for the premise cited.iv The Court referred the matter to the Florida Bar for disciplinary proceedings.v This case is one of many that establish a clear paradigm of imposing penalties for the misuse of AI. Regardless of a party’s good intentions, there will be serious consequences if a party relies on AI to draft legal documents without ensuring the completeness and accuracy of the filing.
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Florida’s Fourth DCA referred Attorney Barry Leff to the Florida Bar for disciplinary proceedings after discovering Leff’s certiorari petition cited a non-existent case, cited cases that did not stand for the premises he argued and failed to cite cases that were directly contrary to his argument for certiorari jurisdiction. Jmor Props., LLC v. Artist Alley Townhomes, LLC, No. 4D2026-1787, 2026 Fla. App. LEXIS 6107, at *1, 3 (4th DCA Aug. 12, 2026).
Leff admitted that he used AI to create a first draft of his petition, but claimed that “while he was making final edits, he inadvertently worked from the wrong version” and filed the initial draft instead of the revised petition which contained verified citations and no hallucinated cases. Expressing its doubts as to the veracity of Leff’s explanation, the Court noted that “[a]ny competent research” would have revealed caselaw which established the court lacked jurisdiction and noted that neither version of Leff’s petition included any of the “abundant,” but adverse caselaw from decades ago that demonstrated the Court lacked jurisdiction.
The Court found that Leff violated his “duty of competence” by failing to include dispositive caselaw and violated his duty to ensure his filings are accurate by citing non-existent caselaw and caselaw that did not stand for the premise cited. The Court referred the matter to the Florida Bar for disciplinary proceedings. This case is one of many that establish a clear paradigm of imposing penalties for the misuse of AI. Regardless of a party’s good intentions, there will be serious consequences if a party relies on AI to draft legal documents without ensuring the completeness and accuracy of the filing.
iJmor Props., at *1.
ii Jmor Props., at *2. Future references to this case are to this citation unless indicated otherwise.
iii Jmor Props., at *3.
iv Jmor Props., at *3-4.
vJmor Props., at *4.
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