Field Note: Even Biglaw Gets The AI Hallucination Blues

Episode notes

Even elite firms can get burned by AI hallucinations. In this field note, Ron Drescher breaks down the recent Sullivan & Cromwell filing controversy, where an emergency brief reportedly contained multiple citation and quotation errors that opposing counsel exposed first. The lesson is not that one firm slipped - it’s that polished AI output can create false confidence in any lawyer, especially when they're under severe deadline pressure. Ron connects the story to his earlier Confession of an AI Hallucinator episode (where he confessed to sending out a memo containing hallucinated cases) and explains why time-stressed emergency filings are fertile ground for hallucination mistakes. He then pivots to a practical alternative: using AI as a research guide , not a research substitute . Instead of relying on AI to generate authorities directly, Ron proposes using AI to create multiple Boolean search strategies, help navigate Westlaw/Lexis/Bloomberg features, and improve the research process while keeping lawyers anchored to real databases, real cases, and real citations.

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