Cal. Super. Ct. (Orange Cnty.): Department C31 Standing Order Re: Artificial Intelligence…
Hon. Kimberly A. Knill · Orange County Superior Court, Department C31
Verified May 8, 2026
- Citation
- Department C31 Standing Order Re: Artificial Intelligence (Hon. Kimberly A. Knill)
- Order date
- January 25, 2024
Summary
Any attorney or self-represented party who has used generative AI (including ChatGPT or Google Bard) in the preparation of any complaint, answer, motion, brief, or other paper filed with Department C31 MUST disclose that AI has been used.
What does the order require?
- Any attorney or self-represented party who has used generative AI (including ChatGPT or Google Bard) in the preparation of any complaint, answer, motion, brief, or other paper filed with Department C31 MUST disclose that AI has been used.
- Disclosure must be 'in a clear and plain factual statement' explaining that AI has been used in any way in the preparation of the filing.
- Filer must CERTIFY that 'each and every citation to the law, or the record in the paper, has been verified as accurate.'
- Order applies to filings assigned to Judge Knill in Department C31.
- Default sanctions framework defers to the court's contempt and sanctions powers; the order itself does not enumerate specific consequences.
Practice areas: state civil
What the order requires
Judge Knill’s Department C31 procedures (Orange County Superior Court) include a standing AI provision (last revised January 25, 2024) that imposes a clear two-part obligation on any attorney or self-represented party filing a complaint, answer, motion, brief, or other paper in Department C31. First, disclosure: a clear and plain factual statement that AI has been used in any way in the preparation of the filing. Second, certification: that each and every citation to the law or the record has been verified as accurate.
The order names ChatGPT and Google Bard as exemplar tools and uses emphatic capitalization (“MUST” and “CERTIFY”) in the operative sentence. It is among the earliest California state-court chambers AI standing orders.
Quotable language
“If an attorney for a party, or a self-represented party, has used generative AI, including but not limited to ChatGPT and Google Bard, in the preparation of any complaint, answer, motion, brief, or other paper filed with the Court and assigned to Judge Kimberly A. Knill, they MUST, in a clear and plain factual statement, disclose that AI has been used in any way in the preparation of the filing and CERTIFY each and every citation to the law, or the record in the paper, has been verified as accurate.”