D. Haw.: U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii General Order 23-1: In Re: Use of…

What the order requires

On November 14, 2023, the four active district judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii (Chief Judge Derrick K. Watson and Judges J. Michael Seabright, Leslie E. Kobayashi, and Jill A. Otake) jointly issued General Order 23-1, captioned “In Re: Use of Unverified Sources.” It is one of the earliest court-wide (rather than judge-specific) AI orders in any U.S. district.

1. “Unverified sources” defined. The category bundles two distinct risks: (a) “Briefs and memoranda generated by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms (for example, ChatGPT or Bard)” and (b) “online briefs or memoranda drafted by persons compensated to produce materials not tailored to specific cases.”
2. Disclosure trigger. Counsel or a pro se party submitting any filing or submission generated by an unverified source must concurrently file a declaration captioned “Reliance on Unverified Source” that (1) advises the court of the reliance and (2) verifies that any such material is not fictitious.
3. Rule 11 scope. The declaration’s scope is “that required by Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
4. Westlaw/Lexis/Bloomberg carve-out. No declaration is required “if all sources can be located on such well-accepted basic research tools.”

What the carve-out actually means

The Westlaw/Lexis/Bloomberg exception is the District of Hawaii’s distinctive feature, and it functions as a verifiability test rather than a blanket exemption. If every cited source in a filing can be located on those platforms, no Reliance on Unverified Source declaration is required. The safe sequence for AI-drafted work is (a) draft however you draft, then (b) relocate every citation in Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg before filing. If every cite resolves, the declaration is unnecessary. If even one cite cannot be located, the declaration is required, and counsel should reconsider whether the cite exists at all.

A citation verification log documents that step contemporaneously and is the workflow that produces the evidence behind the exception.

Practitioner workflow

Run a verification pass before submission: confirm every citation resolves on Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg, and record case name, citation, database, date verified, and attorney initials. If all sources resolve, no declaration is required. If any source cannot be verified on those platforms, including any AI-generated source, file the “Reliance on Unverified Source” declaration concurrently with the filing. The order was signed by the district’s four active judges and binds filers in every case. Some chambers add their own material: Judge Kobayashi posts separate AI guidelines, and Judge Otake’s General Civil Case Procedures direct filers to review General Order 23-1 and warn that failure to follow it may result in sanctions.

Scope

All filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Counsel and pro se parties alike. Judge Kobayashi has also issued chambers-specific Disclosure and Certification Requirements that supplement (not replace) GO 23-1.

Primary source

General Order 23-1 PDF: https://www.hid.uscourts.gov/cms/assets/23a3ee72-c96c-42c4-b184-e8a748a00f64/General%20Order%20on%20the%20Use%20of%20Unverified%20Sources.pdf

Judge Jill A. Otake’s General Civil Case Procedures (referencing GO 23-1): https://www.hid.uscourts.gov/cms/assets/4a14e549-6790-4f0f-abaa-f33f9ec74fbf/2024_General_Civil_Procedures.pdf