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Tracked Changes, Wednesday, February 18, 2026

What changed in legal AI · · 2 min read

  1. Fifth Circuit fines a lawyer $2,500 for an AI-drafted reply brief and a misleading response to the court

    In Fletcher v. Experian, filed February 18, the Fifth Circuit ordered attorney Heather Hersh to pay a $2,500 sanction. The court found she used AI to draft a substantial portion, if not all, of a reply brief and did not verify it. Its show-cause order had listed 16 fabricated quotations. It said she was not forthcoming when asked to explain, and that lesser sanctions were likely had she accepted responsibility.

    Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Read more: How to avoid AI-hallucinated citations in court filings, ABA Formal Opinion 512 explained: what the ABA says about lawyers using generative AI

  2. Oklahoma's Court of Criminal Appeals adopts a rule requiring a person to verify AI-drafted content in filings

    On February 18, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals adopted Rule 1.17, effective the same day. When generative AI is used to prepare a filing, a person responsible for the document must check AI-produced or AI-modified content for accuracy. Violations may lead to sanctions including waiver of the affected issue on appeal, striking the document, or a finding of contempt. The rule sets no requirement to disclose AI use.

    Source: Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals · Read more: How to avoid AI-hallucinated citations in court filings

  3. 8am turns LawPay into a financial management platform with billing, trust accounting and an expense card

    LawSites reported on February 12 that 8am, formerly AffiniPay, has expanded LawPay from payments into what it calls a complete financial management solution for law firms. It adds billing, invoicing, time and expense tracking, matter-level trust accounting with IOLTA compliance, and cash-flow dashboards. A product called Smart Spend links purchases on an 8am Visa business card to client invoices. Pricing and availability were not stated.

    Source: LawSites

  4. AltaClaro and Verbit launch DepoSim, an AI deposition simulator with a voiced witness and opposing counsel

    Legal training company AltaClaro and Verbit launched DepoSim on February 18. Lawyers upload a deposition outline, pick a witness personality and an opposing counsel style, then question an AI witness while AI also voices opposing counsel and the court reporter. Afterward it produces rubric-based feedback tied to the transcript. The companies say it is available to existing AltaClaro clients and new firms. No price was given.

    Source: LawSites