Canary Islands Court Fines Lawyer for AI‑Generated Fake Jurisprudence

The Penal Chamber of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias (TSJC) imposed an €840 fine on a practising lawyer in Lanzarote after the lawyer’s appeal contained at least 25 fabricated citations to Supreme Court and Constitutional Court rulings. The court ruled that the lawyer breached the duty of good‑faith procedural conduct and the respect due to the administration of justice, emphasizing that reliance on artificial‑intelligence tools does not relieve legal professionals from verifying sources.

The TSJC also referred the case to the Lanzarote Bar Association for possible disciplinary action. The ruling cited the lawyer’s refusal to acknowledge the error, lack of apology, and repeated use of false references as aggravating factors. This follows a similar sanction in February, when another Canary Islands lawyer was fined €420 for including 48 AI‑generated fictitious citations.

The court highlighted that professional legal subscriptions to AI tools cost roughly €70 per month, and the fine was set to match the cost of a year‑long subscription, aiming to deter future misuse of AI‑generated content in legal filings.