California State Bar alleges attorneys used AI-generated filings with fabricated legal citations

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 08:57:00 +0200

Three California attorneys are facing disciplinary action after allegations that they submitted court filings containing fake or irrelevant legal citations generated with the help of artificial intelligence tools. According to the State Bar of California, attorneys are permitted to use generative AI in drafting legal documents, but they are required to independently verify all information before submitting it to the court. The cases involve attorneys Omid Emile Khalifeh, Steven Thomas Romeyn, and Sepideh Ardestani.

Khalifeh, based in Los Angeles, is accused of submitting multiple improper citations in a federal trademark case, including at least one citation to a nonexistent case and others that were irrelevant to his arguments. He is also alleged to have failed to disclose his use of generative AI as required by a court standing order. Although he initially claimed that he had verified all citations, he later admitted he could not confirm the existence of at least one cited case.

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