New York (statewide, all UCS civil and criminal courts): 22 NYCRR Part 161: Use of Artifi…
Adopted by the Chief Administrator of the Courts (Administrative Order 75) · New York State Unified Court System
Verified October 1, 2026
- Citation
- 22 NYCRR Part 161: Use of Artificial Intelligence Technology
- Order date
- March 25, 2026
Status and scope
No AI-specific filing obligation: in force, but it imposes no disclosure, verification, or use restriction on attorney filings beyond existing rules. It provides: Use of AI tools by attorneys and parties in preparing court papers should not be prohibited as long as use is consistent with existing duties and responsibilities for submissions.
What the instrument provides
- Use of AI tools by attorneys and parties in preparing court papers should not be prohibited as long as use is consistent with existing duties and responsibilities for submissions.
- Attorneys and parties should NOT be required, upon submitting papers, to disclose to the court that they have used AI in the preparation of such papers (system-wide policy).
- Individual courts may, in their discretion, implement an AI part rule and are encouraged to use the Model Rule (Appendix A), which requires the attorney or party to carefully review the paper and independently ensure it contains no fabricated or fictitious cases, statutes, or other material; signing the paper certifies that such review has been conducted.
- Existing certification obligations under 22 NYCRR 130-1.1, 130-1.1a, and the New York Rules of Professional Conduct continue to apply unchanged.
- Excludes materials proffered as evidence, which are subject to separate considerations.
- Part 161 itself imposes no review or certification duty on filers; that duty applies only in a court that adopts the Appendix A Model Rule or its own AI part rule under Section 161.4.
Practice areas: state civil, state criminal, state family, state probate
What Part 161 does
Part 161 was added to the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations on March 25, 2026 by Administrative Order 75 of the Chief Administrator of the Courts and took effect June 1, 2026. It applies to all courts of the Unified Court System in both civil and criminal cases. It is the first New York state-court system-wide AI rule. It governs attorney filings by permitting AI use without disclosure and leaving the existing certification duties in place, rather than by adding an AI-specific obligation, so the tracker lists it as in force but not as a binding AI filing requirement.
Scope. Section 161.1 states the rule’s reach in one sentence: “The policy set forth in this Part shall apply to all courts of the Unified Court System, in both civil and criminal cases.” Part 161 does not list individual courts, and it says nothing about tribunals outside the Unified Court System, such as executive-branch administrative agencies.
The system-wide policy: no disclosure required
Section 161.3 sets the system-wide policy:
It is the policy of the Unified Court System that the use by attorneys and parties of artificial intelligence tools in preparing papers submitted to a court should not be prohibited, as long as such use is in accordance with the duties and responsibilities that apply to individuals who submit papers to a court. Since those duties and responsibilities already apply to all submissions, regardless of whether AI tools were used, attorneys and parties should not be required, upon submitting papers, to disclose to the court that they have used AI in the preparation of such papers.
This puts New York in the no-mandatory-disclosure camp alongside the Illinois Supreme Court Policy and the New Jersey Notice to the Bar, and against the Florida circuit-level orders, the N.D. Tex. local rule, and most federal chambers orders that require disclosure.
The Model Rule (Appendix A): permissive, not mandatory
Section 161.4 provides that “[a] court may, in its discretion, implement a part rule governing the use by attorneys and parties of artificial intelligence tools in preparing papers submitted to the court,” and that a court which decides such a rule is appropriate “is encouraged to adopt the model rule set forth in Appendix A.” The Model Rule’s operative text:
Every attorney or party who uses an artificial intelligence (AI) tool in preparing any paper submitted to this court is expected to understand that tool’s capabilities and limitations… any attorney or party who uses an artificial intelligence tool… in preparing any paper… filed in or submitted to this court… is required to carefully review the paper and independently ensure that it contains no fabricated or fictitious cases, statutes, or other material. By signing such paper, an attorney or party certifies that such a review has been conducted and that the paper contains no such fabricated or fictitious content. If this court determines that this requirement has not been satisfied, such attorney or party may be subject to sanction or other remedial action.
The Model Rule uses signature-as-certification, the same design adopted by Magistrate Judge van Keulen (N.D. Cal.). There is no separate certification block to draft.
Practitioner workflow
For most New York state-court practice since June 1, 2026: no disclosure block is required, no separate certification is needed, but Rule 130-1.1 and the Rules of Professional Conduct continue to apply with full force to AI-assisted filings. Counsel must verify, but counsel must verify regardless of AI use.
When filing in a court that has adopted the Model Rule, signature is itself a representation that the lawyer has reviewed for fabricated content. Track which individual courts adopt Appendix A; the rule is permissive and adoption will vary.
Status of the Commercial Division Rule 6(e) proposal
The June 11, 2025 proposed Commercial Division Rule 6(e) was effectively absorbed into the broader Part 161 adoption. Treat Part 161 as the canonical New York rule going forward; the standalone Commercial Division proposal is moot.
Primary source
Part 161: https://www.nycourts.gov/rules/part-161-use-artificial-intelligence-technology
Administrative Order 75 (signing letter): https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/RULES/chiefadmin/A.O.%2075%20Signed%20Letter%20to%20DOS.pdf