Suspended lawyer accused of citing hallucinated case in bid to reinstate law license

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Suspended lawyer accused of citing hallucinated case in bid to reinstate legislation license

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 12, 2025, 9:27 am CDT

A suspended Iowa lawyer cited no less than one hallucinated case seemingly generated by synthetic intelligence in his bid to return to legislation observe, in accordance with a movement filed by the Iowa Supreme Court docket Legal professional Disciplinary Board.

Court docket filings by suspended Des Moines lawyer Royce David Turner embody “what seems to be no less than one AI-generated quotation to a case that doesn’t exist or doesn’t stand for the proposition asserted within the filings,” the board says in a July 9 movement.
Turner cited the “imaginary case” In re Mears in a July 5 temporary supporting his software for reinstatement and in two different courtroom filings, in accordance with movement to strike the three filings.

The Iowa Capital Dispatch has a report on Turner’s disciplinary case.

The Iowa Supreme Court docket suspended Turner in 2018 and conditioned reinstatement on Turner offering an analysis by a licensed psychological well being skilled on his health to observe legislation in addition to proof that he paid almost $8,000 in shopper refunds, fines and courtroom prices.

The state supreme courtroom stated he violated disciplinary guidelines by means of neglect, belief account violations and failure to offer competent illustration in chapter proceedings.

Over a span of 20 months, the state supreme courtroom stated, Turner “was repeatedly rebuked by state and federal judges for lacking hearings and violating courtroom guidelines. He was present in contempt a number of instances. Three of his purchasers had been arrested and two had been jailed for lacking hearings he missed.”

The supreme courtroom stated Turner obtained a number of warnings from Iowa judges and the federal chapter courtroom by means of orders to indicate trigger, sanctions and rulings discovering him in contempt. He was additionally subjected to an audit of his shopper belief account. “Turner disregarded many wake-up calls to scrub up his act,” the courtroom stated.

The courtroom famous mitigating components, together with that Turner suffers from consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction and despair. He additionally took enterprise lessons and restricted his caseload to eight purchasers after an interim suspension with none new complaints.

However the lawyer disciplinary board has opposed Turner’s a number of requests for reinstatement filed since 2022, in accordance with the Iowa Capital Dispatch. In addition to citing a faux case, the board stated, Turner has not supplied enough proof from a psychological well being skilled on his health to observe legislation.

The Iowa Supreme Court docket canceled a reinstatement listening to scheduled for July, saying that Turner had not established “convincing proof” of health to observe nor proof of cost to his purchasers, the Iowa Capital Dispatch studies.

The ABA Journal positioned a name to Turner on the quantity listed by the Iowa Judicial Department. A message stated his voicemail field was not arrange for messages. He didn’t remark when contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Hat tip to the Authorized Occupation Weblog.

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