A foreign lawyer has been banned after trying to defend himself before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal using AI-generated false citations. Abishek Kumar was facing disciplinary proceedings after his criminal conviction for knowingly employing an immigrant who was not allowed to work in the UK.
He then filed a written answer to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s charges which contained misleading quotations and citations generated by AI. To compound this, when he was asked to explain this response, he used AI to prepare an email which contained further mistakes and erroneous citations. The SDT stressed that Kumar would have been struck off the register of foreign lawyers for either allegation.
It is the first time that the tribunal has considered the issue of false case citations and the outcome would suggest that it is likely to take a hard line on solicitors who mislead court or tribunal proceedings through use of AI.
Its ruling added: ‘The repeated disregard for verifying submissions to the regulator and to the tribunal had serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the legal system. It was paramount that the reputation of the profession be protected.’
Kumar, 41, had been convicted in 2024 for knowingly employing an adult who was disqualified working in the UK. This employee had been an overstayer in the UK since 2013 and his claim for asylum had been withdrawn in 2019, but he was paid cash-in-hand for administrative work.
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Kumar was sentenced to a 12-month community order with an unpaid work requirement of 150 hours, with the sentencing judge saying he had sought to undermine UK immigration laws.
When disciplinary proceedings began, Kumar filed and served his answer to SRA allegations in March this year. In this answer, he cited one case that was from a different year, another relating to an intellectual property case and another which involved an unsuccessful SRA appeal in the High Court and was completely irrelevant.
When the SRA pointed out these errors and drew attention to a previous High Court ruling involving AI-generated citations, Kumar admitted having used AI to help him draft the first response. He then provided a fresh set of citations and explanations for why they were relevant, but these were again of limited use, the tribunal said.
Kumar later admitted he had again used AI to draft the explanation email and apologised for the errors it contained. He told the tribunal he never intended to be dishonest and described himself as someone who was used to being supervised and was unaware of the issue of false case citations in the legal sector. Whilst dishonesty was not alleged, the tribunal did not otherwise accept these submissions.
Kumar argued against a strike-off due to health and personal issues and the fact he was the principal financial provider for his family. The SRA submitted that the misuse of AI had serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the legal system.
Kumar was struck off the register of foreign lawyers. No order was made for costs.
