Orange County, Texas (District Courts and County Courts at Law): Orange County Local Rule…
Judges Courtney Arkeen (128th), Rex Peveto (163rd), Steve Parkhurst (260th), Mandy White-Rogers (County Court at Law) and Rodney Townsend (County Court at Law No. 2) · 128th, 163rd and 260th District Courts, County Court at Law and County Court at Law No. 2 of Orange County, Texas
Verified October 1, 2026
- Citation
- Orange County Local Rule 13 (Artificial Intelligence) (128th, 163rd and 260th District Courts and County Courts at Law, Orange County, Texas)
- Order date
- March 11, 2025
Summary
Rule 13: if a lawyer believes the client is best served by the use of technology '(e.g., Chat GPT, Google Bard, Copilot, Bing AI Chat, or generative artificial intelligence services), then the lawyer is cautioned that certain technologies may produce factually or legally inaccurate content and should never replace the lawyer's most important asset', the exercise of independent legal judgment.
What does the order require?
- Rule 13: if a lawyer believes the client is best served by the use of technology '(e.g., Chat GPT, Google Bard, Copilot, Bing AI Chat, or generative artificial intelligence services), then the lawyer is cautioned that certain technologies may produce factually or legally inaccurate content and should never replace the lawyer's most important asset', the exercise of independent legal judgment.
- 'If a lawyer chooses to employ technology in representing a client, the lawyer continues to be bound by all of the requirements of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the Texas Lawyer's Creed and all other applicable standards of practice and must review and verify any computer generated content to ensure that it complies with all such standards.'
- The rule names no sanction and requires no disclosure or certification.
Practice areas: state civil, state criminal, state family
What the rule requires
Rule 13 of the Local Rules of the 128th, 163rd and 260th District Courts, County Court at Law and County Court at Law No. 2 of Orange County (Mar. 11, 2025), headed “ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)” (so spelled), addresses lawyers who use “technology (e.g., Chat GPT, Google Bard, Copilot, Bing AI Chat, or generative artificial intelligence services).” Such a lawyer “is cautioned that certain technologies may produce factually or legally inaccurate content and should never replace the lawyer’s most important asset,” the exercise of independent legal judgment.
The rule continues: “If a lawyer chooses to employ technology in representing a client, the lawyer continues to be bound by all of the requirements of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the Texas Lawyer’s Creed and all other applicable standards of practice and must review and verify any computer generated content to ensure that it complies with all such standards.”
Rule 13 requires no disclosure or certification and names no sanction of its own. It speaks only to lawyers.
Adoption and posting
The rules were adopted and approved on March 11, 2025 by Judges Courtney Arkeen, Rex Peveto and Steve Parkhurst of the 128th, 163rd and 260th District Courts and Judges Mandy White-Rogers and Rodney Townsend of the County Courts at Law. Under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 3a(c), “To be effective, local rules, forms, and standing orders must be published on the Office of Court Administration’s website.” The OCA local-rules portal lists the rules as posted March 19, 2025.
Primary source
Orange County Local Rules for District and County Courts (scanned PDF), OCA local-rules portal