Source: Bloomberg Law

A federal magistrate judge found that Lenden Webb, a Fresno, California attorney, failed in his professional responsibility to sufficiently supervise another lawyer at his firm who submitted court filings containing AI-fabricated citations. Magistrate Judge Peter H. Kang of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California sanctioned Webb on an order dated 4/28/26, imposing a $1,001 personal sanction, directing Webb to circulate the order to all attorneys and paralegals in his firm, and requiring four hours of continuing legal education from the State Bar of California—two hours on supervision of junior attorneys/staff and at least two hours on the ethical/professional use of AI in legal practice.

The underlying litigation is Hill v. Workday Inc., in which Anthony Hill, a former in-house counsel, sued Workday alleging race and disability discrimination. According to Kang, Webb and co-counsel Katherine Cervantes misused AI while formerly representing Hill; neither Webb nor Cervantes disputed that they submitted a brief containing a fake citation to nonexistent law, which Kang said was “caused in part by use of AI and ultimately from a lack of care and lack of supervision.” Webb acknowledged he had “ultimate responsibility as counsel of record,” and the order records remedial steps Webb said he and his firm have taken, including attending a legal operations convention and multiple seminars on AI issues; Webb Law Group APC represents Webb.