West Virginia

formal

West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board, Legal Ethics Opinion 24-01 (June 14, 2024)

Summary

West Virginia's L.E.O. 24-01 (June 2024) is among the most detailed state AI ethics opinions in the country and is notable for an explicit requirement that client consent to use generative AI be informed and confirmed in writing. A companion JIC Advisory Opinion 2023-22 instructs judges to treat AI as a 'law clerk' useful for research but never for deciding cases. No court-wide AI standing orders exist in West Virginia.

Applicable ABA Model Rules

Rule 1.1
Rule 1.3
Rule 1.4
Rule 1.5
Rule 1.6
Rule 1.18
Rule 3.2
Rule 3.3
Rule 4.1
Rule 5.1
Rule 5.3
Rule 8.4

Carrier Implications

ALPS is the WV State Bar's endorsed carrier and has published guidance on AI coverage gaps. The written client consent and supervision requirements in L.E.O. 24-01 are precisely the documented procedures carriers will scrutinize at renewal.

This summary is informational only. Verify the primary source before relying on this entry. Bar rules differ meaningfully by state. Consult a licensed attorney in your state.

L.E.O. 24-01, issued by the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board on June 14, 2024, is among the most detailed state AI ethics opinions and stands out nationally for requiring that client consent to use generative AI be informed and confirmed in writing. It also imposes affirmative duties to review terms of use and privacy policies of any generative AI service before using it for client matters, to supervise AI output (RPC 5.3 was amended in 2015 to encompass nonhuman assistance), and to verify AI output before filing under candor and frivolous-claims duties. The opinion advises lawyers to view AI “at best as a secondary source and should never be relied upon as the primary source itself” and notes: “Generative AI can hallucinate.”

JIC Advisory Opinion 2023-22 (Nov 2023) addresses judicial AI use, holding that a judge may use AI for research but should NEVER use AI to reach a conclusion on the outcome of a case. No court-wide AI standing orders exist in West Virginia state courts or in either federal district (S.D.W. Va. or N.D.W. Va.). No legislation directly regulating attorney AI use has been enacted.

Bottom line for a 5-50 attorney West Virginia firm: L.E.O. 24-01 is binding advisory guidance with more explicit requirements than most state opinions. The written consent requirement stands out nationally. ALPS is the WV State Bar’s endorsed carrier and has published separate guidance on AI coverage gaps.

Last verified: April 23, 2026