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Ethics/Professional Responsibility

May 26, 2026

Don't sign blind: How Campos redefines judicial responsibility

Generative AI has shattered the legal system's long-standing trust in cited authority, and the Campos decision makes clear that judges as well as lawyers now share responsibility for verifying that the law they rely on is real.

Metro Justice Building

Bernard C. Barmann Jr.

Supervising Judge

Unlimited Civil, Civil Writs

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Don't sign blind: How <i>Campos</i> redefines judicial responsibility
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For decades, trial courts operated on a simple assumption: when lawyers cite cases and statutes, those authorities actually exist. Generative AI has blown that assumption apart. Polished briefs and proposed orders can now contain fabricated cases, phantom quotations, and misleading summaries that look entirely legitimate.

Courts nationwide are confronting hallucinated citations filed by lawye...

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