A legal technology market report published by HAQQ found that U.S. and international courts issued a combined $145,950 in monetary sanctions against attorneys during the first quarter of 2026 for filing legal briefs containing AI-generated citations to cases or quotes that did not exist. The tally included a $5,000 sanction in January, a $250 sanction in February, a $30,000 sanction from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in March over fabricated citations, a $9,000 sanction in a New Jersey case, and a record $109,700 sanction against an attorney in Oregon.

Researchers cited in the report have documented more than 1,200 similar sanctions globally since AI-assisted legal drafting became widespread, with more than 800 originating in U.S. courts. More than 300 federal judges have adopted rules requiring attorneys to disclose or certify their use of AI tools in filings.

Separately, a Washington Post and Associated Press investigation cited in the report found that 61.6 percent of federal judges said they have used AI tools in their own judicial work, including drafting case timelines and analyzing filings.

In a related ruling on February 10, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in the Southern District of New York found that documents generated through a public AI platform are not protected by attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine, a decision the report described as significant for firms using consumer AI tools without enterprise data agreements. The global legal AI market was valued at $29.81 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $65.51 billion by 2034.