Sandigan Calls Out Lawyer Who Used AI In Pleadings
The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division told lawyer Iryl Boco to fact-check any AI-generated research and to strictly observe proper citations of legal authorities.
A lawyer has been flagged by the Sandiganbayan over erroneous citations in the pleadings she filed, which she admitted were crafted with the help of artificial intelligence tools.
“In future submissions of documents before the court, counsel is reminded to fact-check any AI-generated research and to strictly observe proper citations of legal authorities concomitant to her duties under the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA),” the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division told Iryl Boco in a minute resolution promulgated on Aug. 7.
The court earlier ordered Boco to explain why the “misquotations” in three pleadings she submitted on behalf of former Technology Resource Center deputy director general Dennis Cunanan should not be referred to the Supreme Court.
Cunanan is facing graft and malversation cases over the so-called pork barrel fund scam.
Boco’s citations were either “non-existent or did not contain the quoted portions cited and had incorrect docket numbers and dates,” the court stressed.
Lawyers should not “misquote, misrepresent or mislead the court as to the existence or the contents of any document, argument, evidence, law or other legal authority,” per the CPRA.
Boco apologized to the court and admitted the “severity of the errors” in the motions she filed.
Cunanan’s former lawyer, Je Froilan Clerigo, drafted in full the three motions and “AI tools were utilized in researching case law,” Boco explained.
Boco said she believed that the motions’ contents were faithful and accurate, though she admitted that it was “careless” to affix her signature without carefully reviewing the documents.
The court accepted Boco’s apology, noting that she was “forthright in admitting her errors without any intention to mislead the court.”
“While Atty. Boco explained that she did not, on her own, draft the motions, and that Al-enabled tools were employed in researching the issues, the ultimate responsibility of the misquotations ultimately fell on her shoulders as she signed the same,” the Seventh Division maintained.
