Alabama Federal Judge Suspends Attorney H. Gregory Harp After AI Inquiry and Evidence Destruction Findings
A federal judge in Alabama has suspended attorney H. Gregory Harp from practicing before the court for six months after finding he submitted a legal brief containing quotations that could not be verified and then destroyed evidence during an investigation into whether generative AI was used in the filing.
U.S. District Judge Harold Mooty III said Harp deleted access to his ChatGPT account shortly after being ordered to provide records connected to the court’s inquiry. The judge wrote that inaccurate quotations appeared in a filing submitted on behalf of a client and said the attorney failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for how they appeared in the brief.
The court emphasized that the sanctions were not based solely on AI use. Instead, the order focused on inaccurate legal authority, a lack of verification, alleged misrepresentations during the investigation, and the destruction of potentially relevant evidence.
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The decision arrives as courts around the country face growing questions about how lawyers should use AI tools such as ChatGPT. Judges have repeatedly warned that attorneys remain responsible for verifying every citation, quotation, and legal argument filed in court regardless of how the work is produced.
The case moves the debate beyond AI mistakes alone. The ruling signals that courts may treat concealment, deleted records, or failures to cooperate with AI-related investigations as more serious than the original technology error itself.
The case is likely to be closely watched by law firms, courts, regulators, and professional licensing bodies as AI becomes more deeply integrated into legal research and drafting workflows nationwide.
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