Guide
How to verify AI legal citations: a 6-step checklist
Generative AI can speed up legal research, but it can also produce citations that look real and aren't. Studies of leading legal AI tools have found hallucinations in a meaningful share of answers, and hundreds of court filings have cited non-existent cases. Use this checklist every time.
- Confirm the case exists. Look up the exact citation (volume, reporter, page) in an official or trusted source. AI tools have produced convincing but fictional cases; courts have sanctioned attorneys for filing them.
- Read the opinion, not the summary. Open the full text and find the passage that supports your proposition. Check that quotes are verbatim and pin cites point to the right page.
- Check the jurisdiction and court. Is it binding where you're filing? A same-state appellate decision carries different weight than an out-of-state or federal decision.
- Check subsequent history. Make sure the decision hasn't been reversed, vacated or overruled, and look at how later courts have treated it.
- Match the facts honestly. Similar facts aren't identical facts. Note the key differences; opposing counsel will.
- Document your verification. ABA Formal Opinion 512 (2024) expects lawyers to understand AI tools, protect confidentiality, and independently verify AI output before relying on it.
How LegiMatch helps
LegiMatch only returns decisions stored in its database, each with a link to the source opinion, pinpoint quotes and treatment signals. That makes steps 1–4 fast. It doesn't replace them: you still read and verify before you rely on anything.
Try the free citation checker to see which citations in a draft resolve to opinions in our database.