Here’s a snapshot of the cases the Michigan Supreme Court heard argument during its 2024-25 sitting that await decision by the end of July. Select the case name to expand the case details. Civil Criminal
Citing trouble: The unpredictable cost of AI-made-up case names and summaries in court filings to self-represented persons or attorneys
How’d you react if you ordered a delightful gift from a “discount” website to be delivered to a good friend for their birthday…but they instead received a gift box filled with dirty, smelly rags (and your name on the gift note)? When a self-represented litigant or attorney asks AI (artificial intelligence) tools like ChatGPT, Claude,…
Google NotebookLM for pre-filing review in Michigan
NotebookLM can be an efficient and collaborative tool as the legal filer checks for proper document and citation formatting—a painstaking task often overlooked. Missing elements can result in a rejected filing or poorly reflect on the writer’s professional competency. For trial court filings, one can create a “Notebook” and upload MCR 1.109, the Michigan Appellate…
AI hallucination case databases, and a word from the bench
Damien Charlotin maintains a work-in-progress database of legal decisions in which generative AI created hallucinated content. Peter Henderson hosts a different site of problematic AI legal filings at his AI Law Tracker page. Both are worth bookmarking and reviewing as resources should the issue develop in your work. And while troubling articles like this are…
Images in legal writing? Include descriptive captions. AI can help.
A “captions” search of this website recalls earlier posts on why image captions play an important—but often overlooked—role in persuasive and informative legal writing. Three times, the State Appellate Defender Office included excellent descriptive image captions in its Application for Leave to Appeal in People v David Serges (167154). The Michigan Supreme Court recently ordered…
Another stipulation to dismiss post-argument
For the second time in two months, parties are stipulating and asking the Michigan Supreme Court to dismiss their case after the court heard oral argument. Oral argument was heard on December 4, 2024 in Hairston v Lku (166473). The parties filed a stipulation to dismiss on February 26, 2025. The court issued a unanimous…
Referencing (instead of naming) minors in legal writing
In 2014, the Michigan Supreme Court rescinded the Michigan Uniform System of Citation and, instead, encouraged others to use the Michigan Appellate Opinion Manual. AO 2014-22. Section 3:39 guides how to write about minors (young people) to protect their privacy. For cases involving minors, we suggest not using their full names in any situation that…
Poor trial court audio can frustrate transcript quality and appellate review
The Michigan Court of Appeals (opinion and dissent) and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kimberly A. Thomas (in a dissenting statement) made recent note of the incomplete transcript from the pretrial hearing in the adjudicative phase of a child protective proceeding. “[R]espondent’s answers to important questions about her understanding were not recorded” and the transcript had…
Judicial statements: a window to possible future arguments
Most attention of an appellate court’s heavy lifting is given to its written opinions and orders: requested relief is either granted or denied. But now and again a jurist includes a written statement signaling forward-looking interest in future arguments. Astute trial and appellate lawyers (and judges) make it a routine to review an appellate court’s…
Michigan trial court invited to file an amicus brief—a procedural twist in In re Contempt of Kathy H Murphy
Time for a Paul Harvey “the rest of the story” update to my July 27, 2024 post, wondering how the Michigan Supreme Court would handle a unique set of circumstances when responsive briefing wasn’t being filed in the attorney contempt of court matter In re Contempt of Kathy H. Murphy. The case will be argued…