Nebraska Supreme Court blasts AI-authored court filings, recommends discipline

Omaha attorney Greg Lake, accused of using artificial intelligence to do his writing in court filings, will face an investigation by the state’s Counsel for Discipline.

The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the review on Friday in a harsh, unanimous opinion. The ruling also rejected the suspect briefs filed by Lake for a divorce case.

The court wrote that Lake submitted a brief “potentially AI-generated,” which was “filled with fictitious cases… and fictitious quotations from statutes.” The incident rose to the level where Lake committed “potential violations of the Nebraska Rules of Professional Conduct.”

In 2025, Lake filed an appeal on behalf of the husband involved in the divorce, disputing how the district court resolved property and child custody issues. The attorney for the wife and the appellate court became suspicious when the document referred to previous court cases that did not exist.

In one example cited by the justices, Lake used the 2019 case Kennedy v. Kennedy to make a point about parental custody. There was no such case. Quotes from the case used to justify Lake's position were fabricated.

The Supreme Court justices listed 20 examples of “fictional quotes, incorrect case numbers, or misrepresenting the results of other court cases” found in the brief Lake filed with the court.

It was suspected that these were what are commonly referred to as “hallucinations” generated by AI services, making “realistic but misleading” guesses about what was being requested.

The mistakes, the court noted, could have been easily discovered using traditional legal research services.

Lake repeatedly denied using AI to construct the brief. In recommending that Lake’s conduct be investigated by the Counsel for Discipline, they said he showed “a failure of his duty of candor toward the court.”

The case, according to the justices, “presents a novel issue for Nebraska courts,” and the opinion also served as a cautionary tale for the state’s attorneys to “take care to verify the truth and accuracy of their filings.”

In an unusual addition within an opinion for a specific case, the opinion noted:

“AI, like other technological tools, can be a benefit to the legal community, but it must be used with caution and humility. Anything less imperils the reputation of the legal profession and wastes time and resources of both the courts and litigants.”

Nebraska Public Media sought comment from Lake on the court’s conclusions but has not received a reply.