Florida court treats independent judgment as the core AI duty

On October 21, 2026, Reuters reported that Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal referred lawyer Jaclyn Soroka to the Florida Bar for possible discipline after finding that her filings showed hallmarks of generative-AI output and lacked independent professional judgment. The court said taking responsibility for a signed pleading does not remove responsibility for its contents, extending the problem beyond fabricated citations to unfocused or unreliable advocacy. Firms should therefore test review protocols for reasoning, relevance and record fidelity, not only citation existence. Matter-level audit trails should show who reviewed AI-assisted work, what source material was checked and how substantive approval was recorded.