C.D. Cal.: Standing Order for Civil Cases Assigned to Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr.
Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr. · U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Verified September 27, 2026
- Citation
- Standing Order for Civil Cases Assigned to Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr.
- Order date
- January 14, 2026
Summary
Any party who uses generative AI (such as ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, or Google Bard) to generate any portion of a brief, pleading, or other filing must attach a separate declaration disclosing the AI use.
What does the order require?
- Any party who uses generative AI (such as ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, or Google Bard) to generate any portion of a brief, pleading, or other filing must attach a separate declaration disclosing the AI use.
- The declaration must certify that the filer reviewed the source material and verified the artificially generated content is accurate.
- Verification certification is tied explicitly to the filer's Rule 11 obligations.
- Scope is limited to generative AI; the order is silent on non-generative AI tools.
Practice areas: federal civil
What the order requires
Judge Blumenfeld’s standing order in Section 5(c) requires a separate disclosure declaration whenever generative AI is used to draft any portion of a filing. The declaration must certify that the filer reviewed source material and verified the AI-generated content is accurate. The verification obligation is anchored to Rule 11.
The order names ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, and Google Bard as exemplar tools. Scope is limited to generative AI; non-generative tools (e.g., citation checkers, machine-translation tools used to render foreign-language exhibits) are not addressed.
Pattern note
Two C.D. Cal. judges (Blumenfeld, Slaughter) use the same operative template, with Slaughter adding “motion” to the trigger-document list. Judge Hwang used it as well until September 25, 2026, when her reissued order dropped the separate declaration and kept only the Rule 11 verification duty. Olguin uses a different shorter template (filing-as-certification, no separate declaration). Robinson in S.D. Cal. uses a third model (Rule 11 cautionary framing, no disclosure mandate).