DOJ attorney in Raleigh accused of fake legal arguments, attributed to AI - WRAL

A Raleigh lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice is out of his job following allegations in court that he filed a legal brief with fake quotations and legal citations, prompting warnings about the use of artificial intelligence in legal filings.

Court documents show Rudy Renfer admitted to filing “incorrect citations” in the case, prompting a judge to demand an explanation and threaten sanctions. Renfer was replaced as an attorney in the case last week. Efforts to reach Renfer for comment weren’t immediately successful on Wednesday.

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The day after Renfer was taken off the case the lead U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina warned his staff against using artificial intelligence to write briefs.

“AI may hallucinate, but that does not excuse you from your obligations,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle wrote in an internal memo obtained by WRAL. “Always personally verify each quote or proposition with your eyes in an actual case or law or other valid source.”

Similar instances in other states have shown AI-written legal briefs advancing mistaken analyses of the law, or citing fake cases, among other problems.

Boyle’s memo continues: “We cannot misquote or make up any quotes or inaccurately pinpoint cite quotes to a case or make up a fake case. This is federal Big Boy court. Act out of fear, or respect, or reverence, or some combination thereof, accordingly.”

Boyle was appointed last year by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the DOJ’s work in the Eastern District of North Carolina, which stretches from Raleigh to the coast.

On Wednesday, Boyle confirmed the memo against using artificial intelligence was in regards to the case Renfer was involved in, which deals with whether certain people on the military’s Tricare insurance should have access to GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

“When we became aware of this situation, we drafted and circulated an office-wide memo that clarified and reiterated the policy that you're not allowed to use AI to draft a brief that's filed with a court,” he said in an interview.

Magistrate Judge Robert Numbers wrote last week that Renfer “stated that he ‘inadvertently included incorrect citations to case law from this Circuit,’ attributing the errors to the ‘inadvertent filing of an unfinalized draft document.’”

Numbers continued: “Having reviewed the filings in this matter and other submissions by Renfer, the court has serious concerns about the accuracy of certain quotations and representations in Renfer’s filings, and the explanation offered for their inclusion.”