AI Rules for Texas Law Firms
Last verified July 8, 2026
Texas has an active ethics opinion governing AI use in practice today, a new statute regulating AI generally, and court rule changes still moving through committee. If clients or carriers are asking how your firm handles AI, or if a filing question has you wondering what applies, this is where to look.
Where Texas Stands
The clearest guidance for your firm comes from the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas, Opinion 705, adopted in February 2025. Separately, the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, passed as HB 149, took effect January 1, 2026 and regulates AI development and deployment across Texas businesses generally. Court-level rule changes are still pending: in July 2024, the Supreme Court of Texas referred amendments to TRCP 13 and TRE 901 addressing AI-generated filings and evidence to the Supreme Court Advisory Committee, and no statewide AI certification or disclosure rule has been adopted as of mid-2026.
What Your Firm Must Do
Opinion 705 sets four concrete obligations: understand a generative AI tool before your firm uses it, keep confidential client data out of tools that may share or train on that input, independently verify all AI output before it goes to a client or a court, and pass along the time savings AI creates to clients billed hourly. Because no statewide certification or disclosure rule exists yet, your firm should check the standing orders of each court and judge before submitting an AI-assisted filing, since practices vary by bench in the absence of a uniform rule.
Malpractice and Carrier Considerations
TRAIGA is enforced only by the Texas Attorney General, applies based on intent, and includes a 60-day cure period, which means routine use of AI tools in legal work carries limited direct exposure under the statute itself. Where TRAIGA matters more is in your firm's own AI deployments and in AI-related counseling given to clients, both of which should be checked against its prohibited-use and biometric provisions.
What's Still Pending
The TRCP 13 and TRE 901 amendments referred to the Advisory Committee in 2024 remain under study, with no adoption date set. Until the Supreme Court acts, filings involving AI-generated content or AI-related evidence are governed by whatever standing order the presiding judge has in place, not a single statewide rule.
Prefer to talk it through?
Get a free consultation from an AI chief of staff.
A 30-minute call. Get a clear read on what Texas's rules mean for your firm and what to do first.
Book a Free ConsultationThis page covers Texas law. The free assessment scores your specific firm across five domains in one minute.