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Panola County's 2026 standing order on artificial intelligence for the County Court at Law and County Court: attorneys and self-represented litigants may not rely on AI-generated legal research that a human has not reviewed and confirmed; the order prohibits filing pleadings that misstate the law, misrepresent holdings or cite non-existent authority, entering sensitive or confidential case information into an AI program, filing pleadings that contain such information, using AI to create, edit, enhance or alter evidence for any contested hearing or trial, and using experts who relied on AI in forming their opinions; violations draw sanctions after a show-cause hearing (fines, struck pleadings, referral to law enforcement or the State Bar); and every attorney or self-represented litigant must read the order and file the sworn verification with their initial pleading or appearance.
Texas > Tenth Administrative Judicial Region > Panola County > the County Court at Law and the County Court. By its own terms the order applies to every case pending in or filed hereafter in those courts and binds every attorney and self-represented litigant appearing there; the verification form at its end must be signed and filed with the initial pleading or appearance.
STANDING ORDER REGARDING USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW AND COUNTY COURT OF PANOLA COUNTY, TEXAS This Standing Order of the County Court at Law and County Court of Panola County, Texas, applies to every case pending in the County Court at Law and County Court or filed hereafter and is binding on every attorney and self-represented litigant appearing in those courts. This order does not relieve any attorney or self-represented litigant of any legal or ethical obligation imposed by law, statute or rule, including rules of procedure, evidence, or the Texas Disciplinary rules of Professional Conduct. NOTICE: ATTORNEYS AND SELF-REPRESENTED LITIGANTS MAY NOT RELY ON THE PRODUCT OF LEGAL RESEARCH PERFORMED USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLEGENCE THAT HAS NOT BEEN REVIEWED AND CONFIRMED TO BE ACCURATE BY A HUMAN BEING The use of Artificial Intelligence programs or apps (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "artificial intelligence" or simply "AI") such as ChatGPT, Harvey.AI, Claude, Google, Copilot, TensorFlow, OpenAI, Bing, Lexis+AI, Westlaw AI-Assisted Research, Ask Practical Law AI, and many others is becoming commonplace in courts and other judicial and legal settings. The capabilities of these systems vary widely depending on the application, version, underlying technology, and the questions posed by the individual users, but none of them is completely reliable. Artificial intelligence programs and apps are prone to bias and subject to what are often referred to as "Hallucinations." Hallucinations occur when in response to the user's prompts or questions, the artificial intelligence program provides information that is wholly or partially inaccurate or even completely false. For these reasons, it is essential that attorneys and self-represented litigants who chose to use AI in the preparation of pleadings or documents to be filed or submitted to the court carefully review those documents and personally confirm that all statements and citations of authority contained therein are true, correct and accurate. PROHIBITED USES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLEGENCE With the above and foregoing in mind this standing order prohibits the following uses of artificial intelligence in the County Court at Law and County Court of Panola County. THE COURT ORDERS that attorneys and self-represented litigants be and they are hereby prohibited from filing pleadings that contain misstatements of law, misrepresentations of case law holdings, or citations to non-existent case law or statutes. It shall be the duty of each attorney or self-represented litigant filing any pleading, motion or other document into a case filed in this court to personally read and review all citations of authority contained therein and confirm none of them misstates the law, misrepresents case law holdings, and is in fact an existent case or statute. It is a violation of this Standing Order if an attorney or self-represented litigant uses artificial intelligence in their work product, research, or drafting of a pleading and the pleading misstates the law, misrepresents case law holdings, or cites non-existent case law or statutes. THE COURT FURTHER ORDERS that attorneys and self-represented litigants be and they are hereby prohibited from entering any sensitive or confidential information relating to any person involved in the case into an AI program or app. It is a violation of this Standing Order if an attorney or self-represented litigant enters sensitive or confidential information relating to any person involved in the case into any AI program or app. THE COURT FURTHER ORDERS that attorneys and self-represented litigants be and they are hereby prohibited from filing pleadings that contain a person's sensitive, confidential information. It is a violation of this Standing Order if an attorney or self-represented litigant uses AI in its work-product, research, or drafting of pleadings, and that pleading contains sensitive, confidential information from anyone involved in the case. THE COURT FURTHER ORDERS that attorneys and self-represented litigants be and they are hereby prohibited from using AI to create, edit, enhance, or alter evidence to be admitted in any contested hearing – whether oral and in person or by submission – or trial. It is a violation of this standing order if any attorney or self-represented litigant offers to admit or attach evidence in any contested hearing or trial that has been created, edited, enhanced or altered by AI. THE COURT FURTHER ORDERS that attorneys and self-represented litigants be and they are hereby prohibited from using an expert that relies on AI programs or apps in their methodology and work product in forming opinions to be admitted as evidence during hearing or trial. It is a violation of this Standing Order if any attorney or self-represented litigant offers to admit or attach evidence in any contested hearing or trial that was generated by an expert that relied on AI in forming their opinions. SANCTIONS FOR VIOLATION OF THIS STANDING ORDER Any attorney or self-represented litigant who is found to have violated any portion of this Standing Order will be subject to any and all possible sanctions available under the law after a duly noticed show cause hearing. Sanctions can include – but are not limited to – fines and/or striking the offending party's pleadings. Sanctions imposed pursuant to this Standing Order are cumulative, and not in place of any sanctions imposed pursuant to other provisions of law. In appropriate cases, the matter may be referred to law enforcement or the State Bar of Texas for further investigation and enforcement. FINALLY, IT IS ORDERED AND DECREED THAT EVERY ATTORNEY OR SELF-REPRESENTED LITIGANT, before, or contemporaneously with the filing of their initial pleadings or other appearance in a case filed in the County Court at Law and County Court of Panola County, shall read and familiarize himself or herself with the terms and provisions of this standing order, shall sign the certification below and file it into the case. DATED: 8/20/26 [handwritten] [signature] Rick McPherson Judge, County Court at Law, Panola County [signature] Rodger G. McLane County Judge, Panola County Verification Regarding Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence My name is ____________________. I swear under penalties of perjury that the statements contained in this verification are true and correct and based on my personal knowledge. I have read and thoroughly familiarized myself with the terms and provisions of the STANDING ORDER REGARDING USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW AND COUNTY COURT OF PANOLA COUNTY, TEXAS. I fully understand all of the terms and provisions of that order, and I agree to comply with each and every one of them. I understand I may be sanctioned for my failure to do so. So sworn on ______________, 20____. ______________________________ Affiant/Filer ______________________________ Printed Name of Affiant/Filer [File stamp: FILED FOR RECORD IN MY OFFICE AT 11:05 o'clock A.M., AUG 21 2026, Bobbie Davis, County Clerk, Panola County, Texas, by deputy]
STANDING ORDER REGARDING USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW AND COUNTY COURT OF PANOLA COUNTY, TEXAS This Standing Order of the County Court at Law and County Court of Panola County, Texas, applies to every case pending in the County Court at Law and County Court or filed hereafter and is binding on every attorney and self-represented litigant appearing in those courts. Thi
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-19 (AJR-10 Tenth Region build) from BenchPath custody sources/registered/3097.pdf (application/pdf, 121710 bytes, sha256 2c5119113270c85df3b3b45fec21c86a72e0c093307e231aae6514db45098e44; 3 pages) - the TOPICs-registered document: digital text layer normalised (whitespace, hyphenation, page furniture) and every page checked against the rendered PDF; signature and file-stamp blocks bracketed. Identical bytes posted on the county site: https://www.co.panola.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/1863/Standing-Order-Regarding-the-Use-of-Artificial-Intelligence-PDF; https://www.co.panola.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/1864/Standing-Order-Regarding-the-. Three-page digital text layer checked against the render; the file-stamp header and the handwritten date/signature block were typed from the image; the verification form on page 3 is part of the instrument and kept. Also registered as TOPICs 3101 - the district-clerk copy of the same signed instrument (file stamp "Filed 08/21/2026 10:35 AM, Lindsey Smith, District Clerk, by Lora Brown, Deputy"); 3097 is the county-clerk copy (filed Aug 21 2026, 11:05 a.m., Bobbie Davis). Pages 1-3 of the two scans were compared by eye on 2026-09-19 and carry the same text: one rule, two receipts (edition twin). CORRECTION 2026-09-20: the PDF is a scan with a machine OCR layer. All three pages were re-read by eye and every word of the text published 2026-09-19 matches the pages (the instrument's own spelling 'INTELLEGENCE' and 'who chose to use AI' are as printed). Changed: the four spaced dashes are the en dashes the page prints, the NOTICE heading is one heading, and two page-break characters are removed.
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.