Check legislation citations before a filing
Key facts
- Human involvement
- RedLawyer-led
- How AI is used
- List each statute citation in the draft, with the section sign and the proposition the draft states. Do not mark the citation as current and do not insert a section the draft does not cite.
- What the lawyer must review
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)(2) requires that legal contentions in a paper presented to the court be warranted by existing law, or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing it, after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances. A statute citation is part of that certification. ABA Formal Opinion 512 (29 July 2024) requires the lawyer to check citations produced with a generative tool against the source, because a tool can produce a citation that is not real. The lawyer opens the official text of the statute. The list does not declare that the text is current.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Supporting preparation only. Potential support includes organising research leads. Confirm the tool’s capability and permitted scope. The tool writes nothing into the document. Substantive advice, judgement and any restricted content remain with the responsible human. |
| Lawyer | Perform the substantive analysis and decisions. Independently check any permitted supporting work and approve the exact output for its intended use. |
Checklist
- Open each relied-on authority independently. Confirm its existence, current status, proposition and any quotation or pinpoint reference.
- Check the current court or regulator requirements, prescribed form and attachments for the intended document and filing.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.