ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Inside the SEC's tangled legal battle with LSU and Lane Kiffin
As LSU and the SEC found themselves locked in an unprecedented game of legal chicken over coach Lane Kiffin's plan to roster two former NFL players this season, Kiffin routinely reached out to his friend, attorney Tom Mars, for legal advice.When Mars urged Kiffin to back down, the LSU coach texted him screenshots of legal opinions from an unlikely source.
ChatGPT.
"Usually, when I would express an opinion about what LSU was doing, Lane would reply with a screenshot from ChatGPT that supported LSU's position, which was almost always wrong," Mars said. "Lane ignored most of my unsolicited advice, but I don't think he'll be using ChatGPT anymore for legal advice."
Even though former Ole Miss players Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris prevailed in Louisiana state court and obtained a preliminary injunction that prevented the SEC and NCAA from keeping them off the field this season, LSU ultimately chose to not add them to its roster.
The SEC had threatened to impose stiff penalties to any school that rostered former NFL, NBA or WNBA players, including a fine that equaled 50% of the sport's annual operating budget and a half-season suspension for the head coach.
The SEC also filed a federal lawsuit against LSU in Alabama -- on the same day commissioner Greg Sankey was testifying in state court in Baton Rouge -- and later scheduled a vote of its member university presidents to consider booting the Tigers out of the league.
If Kiffin hadn't backed down, LSU might have been punished severely, perhaps even kicked out of the league, if the SEC prevailed in federal court or a state appeals court.
"Eventually, I told him that a guy with a $91 million contract ought to have a top-notch lawyer on speed dial and not be using ChatGPT for legal advice," Mars said......
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