UNL Legal Intern Lends Expertise to NCITE Research – University of Nebraska at Omaha

UNL Legal Intern Lends Expertise to NCITE Research  University of Nebraska at Omaha

In 2025, an attorney in a Nebraska divorce proceeding flagged their opposing counsel’s appellate brief for suspected fake citations. The accusation was later elevated to the Nebraska Supreme Court. In their review, the court found that the brief was “riddled” with fictitious case citations and quotes. After an initial denial, the offending attorney admitted he used generative AI to draft the brief without verifying its accuracy. The court noted that this was their first opportunity to address such misuse of AI in the legal profession, and in April suspended the attorney’s license indefinitely. As part of an internship with the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education (NCITE) Center this summer, Sydney Kucera refined the Center’s AI policies to provide clear usage guidance for faculty, staff, and students.

As a University of Nebraska at Omaha alumna and second-year law student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kucera leveraged her expertise to investigate several legal problem sets during her time at the Center. From drafting terms and conditions to charting prosecution trends against cartels, she served as a key asset for NCITE’s research and operations teams. It was a great opportunity to apply my research skills. As an undergraduate, Kucera majored in political science with minors in history and criminology. During a legislative internship her junior year, she was encouraged by State Sen.