Solo and small-firm lawyers adopt AI drafting tools for a good reason: there is no associate to hand research to, and deadlines do not move. That same lack of a research department is exactly why verification needs to be a deliberate, repeatable step, not something you trust your own read-through to catch. This checklist is built specifically for that constraint.
Before you draft
- Decide up front which AI tool you're using for drafting and whether it has live web/database access or is working from training data alone — the latter is far more likely to invent citations confidently.
- Never paste real client-confidential facts into a general-purpose consumer AI tool without checking your engagement letter and any applicable confidentiality rules.
- Set a firm-wide (even a firm-of-one) rule: no AI-assisted citation goes into a filing without an independent existence check.
While drafting
- Treat every citation the AI tool produces as unverified by default, including ones that match cases you vaguely remember being real.
- Ask the tool directly for its source for each citation; a tool that cannot point to where it got a citation is a signal to verify that citation first.
- Keep a running list of every citation as you go, rather than trying to reconstruct the list from the finished draft.
Before you file
- Run existence checks on every case citation against a primary source (CourtListener, or a verification tool built on it) — not against your own memory of case law.
- Check every quotation against the actual opinion text, word for word, not just the vibe of the sentence.
- Read the actual holding of any case you're relying on for a specific proposition, not just the AI tool's paraphrase of it.
- Confirm good-law status — not overruled, vacated, or superseded on the point you're citing it for.
- Keep a record that you did this verification step — if it is ever questioned, "I checked and here is how" is a materially better position than "I trusted the tool."
Why solo practitioners are not a special exception
Per the Charlotin AI Hallucination Cases database, solo and small-firm practitioners make up a meaningful share of documented incidents, alongside large firms and pro se litigants. There is no evidence in the public record that any category of filer is immune; the common thread across nearly all documented cases is simply the absence of an independent verification step, not the size of the practice.
If you get it wrong anyway
Courts have shown more leniency toward attorneys who self-report and correct a hallucinated citation promptly, versus those who defend it after it is caught by the other side. If you find a fabricated citation in something already filed, address it immediately rather than hoping it goes unnoticed. See our breakdown of what the Mata v. Avianca sanctions order actually says for how a court evaluates candor after the fact.
Expert perspective
Malpractice carriers have started asking about AI-verification workflows directly on renewal applications (see our piece on answering your malpractice renewal application's AI question). Having a written checklist like this one in your practice's procedures manual is increasingly treated as basic risk hygiene, not an extra step.
A common question
How long does this checklist actually add to my filing process?
For a typical motion with a handful of citations, a careful pass through existence, quote, and proposition checks takes roughly two minutes per citation done by hand, or considerably less with a dedicated verification tool. On a 10-citation brief, that is well under the time it takes to proofread the document once for typos. See how to verify a legal citation in under 2 minutes for a faster workflow.
Related reading
- How to Check for AI Hallucinations in Legal Briefs
- The Solo Practitioner's AI Tool Buying Checklist
- The AI Legal Brief Due-Diligence Checklist
- The Two-Minute Citation Check: A Workflow You'll Actually Use
- What Malpractice Insurers Are Saying About AI Drafting Risk
Check a brief before you file it →
Adapting this checklist to specific practice areas
A solo family law practitioner's highest-risk citations tend to involve fast-moving custody or support modification case law, while a solo immigration practitioner's highest-risk citations tend to involve BIA precedent and country-conditions evidence. Adapt the general checklist above by identifying which category of citation you rely on most heavily, and build extra scrutiny specifically around that category.
What to do when you genuinely don't have two extra minutes
If a filing deadline is truly immovable, prioritize the citations doing the most argumentative work first, verify those completely, and flag the remainder for follow-up verification even after filing, with a corrective notice to the court if anything turns out to be wrong.
Building this into a one-person practice management system
Solo practitioners without practice management software can still build this into a habit: a standing calendar reminder tied to every filing deadline, or a physical checklist reviewed before every filing regardless of how routine it feels.
Final takeaway
The absence of institutional support is exactly why a written, personal checklist matters more for solo practitioners than for anyone else in the profession. Build it once, use it every time.
A common question
Should I tell clients I'm using AI tools to help with their matter?
Many state guidance documents recommend or require some level of client disclosure regarding AI use, particularly where it affects billing or confidentiality. Check your specific state bar's guidance, and when in doubt, disclosing proactively tends to build client trust rather than undermine it.
Related reading
Print this checklist, keep it somewhere you will actually see it before filing, and revisit it whenever you adopt a new AI tool, since the specific risks can shift meaningfully between tools even when the underlying verification steps stay the same.
The habit is simple enough to start today, and the cost of starting is far lower than the cost of being the next entry in a public sanctions tracker.