By Marcel Strigberger | April 29, 2025
New York Court not crazy about surprise AI presentation.
Humans 1, Technology 0. Sort of.
A New York State appellate court allowed James Dewald, the plaintiff in an employment case, to submit his argument via video. The presentation, however, lasted but a few seconds after Dewald represented himself as an AI-generated avatar that did not look like him.
The judges became suspicious when a video of a handsome young man wearing a buttoned-down shirt seemingly sitting in a home office said, “May it please the court, I come here today a humble pro se before a panel of distinguished justices…”
The senior judge, Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, asked the man whether this was counsel for the case. Dewald confessed and apologized to the court. I wonder what tipped her off. It’s not as if the image said, “I come here today not to praise my employer but to bury him”.
I watched the court recording and noted that Her Honour was livid, chastising the appellant for misleading the court by not disclosing this AI-generated demon in advance. She shouted, “Shut that thing off”. I think she would have lunged at the screen had she had a gavel.
I would say Manzanet-Daniels is still fuming. I hear rumours that she secured a picture of the gentleman and that she has visited Amazon to order a voodoo kit. Holy avatar.
Google told me “avatar” comes from the Hindu Sanskrit, meaning a manifestation of deity in bodily form on earth, such as a divine teacher. This sounds heavy-duty spooky to me. If I was a judge on that panel, I would have hesitated a bit before shutting the recording. I likely would have gone over to the window hoping to see a rainbow.
AI has stirred up several problems in the courtroom. One is coming up with fictitious case law. I’m retired from practice. I know diddly about AI. But I would suggest to my colleagues that they scrutinize their AI research. Watch out for hints of doubtful cases such as 7 Supreme Court Bogus, 11 Ontario Phony Reports, or 21 Canada Counterfeit Cases. These might have questionable authenticity. Mentioning them could easily piss off the judge.
I am not saying that judges do not have their quirks. Back in the mid-1970s, after I was called to the bar, there was a judge who was a notorious stickler on what he considered proper courtroom attire. He expected male lawyers to wear black or gray pants. I once witnessed an unsuspecting colleague wearing brown trousers. His Lordship interrupted him, saying, “I can’t hear you.” The man, of course, raised his voice, but the judge kept repeating his mantra. Eventually, another lawyer in the courtroom approached the frustrated gentleman and told him in a low voice that the problem was the brown pants. After a short conference between the two lawyers, the rescuer, wearing black trousers, addressed Justice Fred Finicky on behalf of his shocked colleague and the matter was adjourned. How’s that for the advancement of justice?
Have times changed? While I can’t blame those New York judges for getting upset over the AI presentation, I don’t think that lawyer 50 years ago got a lighter takedown than James Dewald.
I think about ever-changing technology. I initially used typewriters. The delete function was liquid white-out. I thought the greatest invention ever was the sticky note. Yes!
And many lawyers got their exercise during a court recess by scrambling to get ahead of others running from the courtroom to the two or three available payphones. You had to make sure you were always prepared, arriving at the courthouse with a stash of dimes in your pockets (any colour pants).
I wonder how AI would digest my anecdote about this stickler judge. I would play around with ChatGPT if I knew what to do. It would not surprise me that if I entered the facts, the virtual oracle would produce the following: “When a judge looks at brown pants, he suddenly gets deaf”,
Marcel Strigberger is a Toronto-based lawyer, humourist and author, who now devotes his time to being funny and writing after 40 years of balancing these endeavours with a civil litigation practice. First, Let’s Kill the Lawyer Jokes: An Attorney’s Irreverent Serious Look at the Legal Universe, is available in eBook and paper versions on Amazon, Indigo, Apple books, etc., and, Strigberger adds, wherever great books are sold.
RELATED ARTICLES
Caseway AI legal research tool eliminates “hallucinations”
Humans not necessary: AIs negotiate contract amongst themselves
Lack of International Cooperation Threatens Chaos in AI Management