The court issued an order Friday outlining the proposed amendments to civil procedure Rule 13 and appellate procedure Rules 9 and 52, noting that some changes are meant to "address concerns about the improper use of artificial intelligence in filings, which increases the risk of fabricated authorities, quotations, and holdings appearing in court filings."
The proposed changes include a provision that, by signing a court filing, the signer is representing in part that "the signer reviewed the filing and verified its accuracy, including that the legal citations, quotations, and holdings are not fabricated."
Other proposed changes to Rule 13 and Rules 9 and 52 spell out how a court may sanction a signatory for filings suspected of being "groundless, brought in bad faith, or brought for the purpose of harassment."
"The rule is not intended to govern disputes regarding the interpretation, application, or persuasive force of existing authorities," the court said.
Should a court be faced with a filing that it suspects violates the rules, it must provide notice to the persons who signed it and give them a chance to respond, under the proposed rules.
Sanctions for bogus filings may "include reprimand, contempt, striking of the filing in whole or in part, dismissal of proceedings, costs, or attorney's fees."
"Any sanction must be proportionate to the violation found," the justices said. "A court must impose lesser sanctions before holding the signer in contempt, striking a filing, or dismissing a proceeding or explain in the order why lesser sanctions are insufficient to promote compliance."
The justices said in comments that changes to Rule 9 "includes express sanction provisions to avoid uncertainty over an appellate court's authority to impose sanctions in this context."
The court has opened a comment period that closes Sept. 1, and said it expects the proposed changes to take effect Oct. 1.
A survey of Texas lawyers showed that artificial intelligence use increased from 30% in 2024 to 62% this year, according to results from the Texas bar announced earlier this month. AI was most commonly used by lawyers in legal research, with 63% using ChatGPT, the survey showed. Of lawyers who said they don't use AI, 59% "cited ethical concerns."
Lawyers in private practice make up the legal occupation group with the highest rate of AI use at 67%.
"However, corporate/in-house counsel remain the highest adopting legal occupation group (87% in 2026, up from 51% in 2024)," the survey showed.
Younger lawyers are more likely to incorporate the use of AI into their work, the survey found. Of attorneys licensed 15 or fewer years, 73% utilized the technology, while those licensed more than 15 years showed an AI adoption rate of 60%.
The survey found that large law firms, those with rosters of 25 or more, adopted AI tools at 87%, while firms with attorney headcounts under 25 incorporated AI at 64%.
The Texas bar's emerging technologies committee sent the survey to 30,000 lawyers licensed in Texas with 1,553 responding. The bar said the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2%.
--Editing by Nicole Bleier.
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