Do courts require attorneys to disclose AI use in filings?

A patchwork rather than a single rule

Following widely reported incidents of attorneys submitting filings with fabricated AI-generated citations, a number of individual judges and some courts began issuing their own standing orders addressing AI use. But this response has developed as a patchwork rather than a unified national standard — there is no single federal rule requiring every attorney in every US court to disclose AI use in every filing. Instead, whether disclosure is required depends heavily on which specific court, and often which specific judge, a matter is before.

What these orders typically require

Where standing orders exist, they tend to take one of a few common forms. Some require an affirmative certification, similar to existing rules requiring attorneys to certify the legal and factual basis of a filing, specifically confirming that any AI-generated content or citations were independently verified. Others go further and require attorneys to disclose which specific AI tools, if any, were used in preparing a document. The specific wording, scope, and enforcement of these orders differs considerably from one court to the next.

Practical implications for practicing attorneys

Because there’s no uniform rule, attorneys who practice across multiple courts or jurisdictions generally need to check the specific standing orders of each judge and court they appear before, since a requirement in one courtroom may not exist in another. This has added a layer of jurisdiction-specific compliance to what was already a fast-changing area, and many law firms have responded by building internal verification practices robust enough to satisfy the strictest disclosure requirements they’re likely to encounter, rather than tailoring their process court by court.

Bottom line

Some courts and individual judges require disclosure or certification of AI use in filings through their own standing orders, but there is no single nationwide rule — attorneys need to check the specific requirements of each court where they’re practicing.

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