--- title: "Judge Blasts Law Firm for Using ChatGPT to Estimate Legal Costs" description: "New York-based law firm Cuddy Law used the OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT to help justify a $113,484.62 bill for a recently won trial." date: "2024-02-26" modified: "2024-02-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/judge-blasts-law-firm-chatgpt" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "court" - "lawyer" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # Judge Blasts Law Firm for Using ChatGPT to Estimate Legal Costs ![New York-based law firm Cuddy Law used the OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT to help justify a $113,484.62 bill for a recently won trial.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Asking AI Despite its well-documented tendency to make up claims — and [entire court cases]() — on the spot, New York-based law firm Cuddy Law used the OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT to help justify a $113,484.62 bill for a recently won trial. The firm argued that it had asked the AI tool for feedback on how much to charge, a sum the losing side was expected to pay. But as [*The Register* reports](), NYC federal district judge Paul Englemayer saw right through their ill-advised plan. "It suffices to say that the Cuddy Law Firm's invocation of ChatGPT as support for its aggressive fee bid is utterly and unusually unpersuasive," he wrote in his [order](). ## Chatbot Lawyering The incident isn't the first time law practitioners have been caught making use of ChatGPT. For instance, earlier this year, Colorado-based lawyer Zachariah Crabill [was accused of]() drafting a legal document using the tool, an offense that promptly got him fired. Steven Schwartz of Manhattan's Levidow, Levidow & Oberman law firm was [also caught]() making use of ChatGPT in court, where it fabricated made-up court cases to defend one of his clients — but got away with a [slap on the wrist](). ChatGPT's ability to gauge how much a lawyer should charge is equally dubious, with Englemayer calling Cuddy's attempt "misbegotten at the jump." Lawyers for Cuddy law, however, told *The Register* that the AI tool didn't have a direct effect on legal proceedings and that its rates "were consistent with the range of rates and typical reasons for such rates that a parent... might find if using ChatGPT while researching what rates to expect." Englemayer, however, is wary of setting a precedent. "Barring a paradigm shift in the reliability of this tool, the Cuddy Law Firm is well advised to excise references to ChatGPT from future fee applications," he wrote in his order. In the end, Cuddy was only awarded $53,050.13 — half what it originally billed. **More on ChatGPT and lawyering:** *[Politician Admits He Used ChatGPT to Generate New Law]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()