Wake Up Call: Lawyers’ AI Use Causes Hallucination Headaches

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• Judges are increasingly catching fake legal citations generated by AI, with a growing number of cases involving lawyers and legal professionals rather than self-represented litigants. Legal data analyst Damien Charlotin created a public database of 120 such incidents, documenting a surge in AI-related citation errors, along with courts around the world imposing fines and sanctions. (Business Insider)
• The deputy general counsel at New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, has quietly become one of the city’s most effective legal minds behind building affordable housing. Daphne Rubin-Vega leads a team of 25 attorneys that has played a key role in advancing major projects like the transformation of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center and the long-stalled Lirio housing development for long-term survivors of HIV and AIDS. (Commercial Observer)
• A Florida judicial referee recommended dropping ethics charges against trial lawyer Clayton Studstill, who was accused of violating a court order and misleading a judge during a 2022 trial, finding that Studstill was likely suffering from Covid-related delirium at the time. Despite testing positive for Covid-19 and showing signs of serious illness, Studstill was pushed to participate in trial proceedings, ultimately collapsing and being hospitalized. (Law.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Allison Bell joined King & Spalding as a partner in its corporate practice group in New York. She joins from Kirkland & Ellis.
• Craig Byrne and Frederic Demeulenaere joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as partners in its energy and infrastructure finance team in Milan. They join from A&O Shearman.
• Michael Kimberly joined Winston & Strawn as co-chair of its appellate and critical motions practice in Washington.
• Charles Tanenbaum joined Clifford Chance as a partner in its funds and investment management practice. He joins from Kirkland & Ellis.
• Jodi Daniel joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as a partner in its regulatory department in Washington. She joins from Crowell & Moring.
• Andrew Cheng rejoined Gibson Dunn as a partner in its business restructuring and reorganization practice group and liability management and special situations practice group in Los Angeles.
• Jonathan Slonim was promoted to general counsel at McKinsey & Co. He was previously deputy general counsel and head of Americas legal.
• Frank Birchfield rejoined Ogletree Deakins as a shareholder in New York. He joins from Vice Media Group.
• Brett Fieldston joined Fried Frank as a tax partner in New York. He joins from KPMG.
• Megan Gajewski Barnhill joined ArentFox Schiff as a partner in its international trade & investment practice in Washington.