A law firm has been left with legal egg on its face - and the possibility of a Legal Practice Council (LPC) investigation - for allegedly using "Google" and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to source what were non-existent legal citations in court proceedings.
GroundUp reports that Pietermaritzburg-based Surendra Singh and Associates has also been ordered to pay costs, from its own coffers, of two court hearings in September last year in which Judge Elsje-Marie Bezuidenhout, in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, interrogated its court documents and references to case law.
From submissions and her own research, the judge concluded that "while the real source of the authorities quoted remain unknown" it was likely that the firm had relied on AI technology, which was "irresponsible and downright unprofessional".
Bezuidenhout referred her ruling to the LPC and "urged that it obtain a recording of the entire proceedings including any comments made before I entered court as well as submissions made by the various representatives of the applicant".