Washington: AI rules for lawyers

What this means for lawyers

You may use AI tools, including generative AI. You remain responsible for the work. Understand the tool you use, check the output, and do not file a citation, quotation or legal proposition you have not verified.

Do not put information relating to a representation into a consumer AI tool unless confidentiality can reasonably be assured. Read vendor terms, including whether the vendor uses the data to train the tool. Where the information is sensitive, consult the client and, in some cases, get informed consent under RPC 1.6 before you use the tool.

There is no statewide rule that you must tell the court you used AI. Lincoln County Superior Court, Clallam County District Court II and Clark County District Court do impose a disclosure or certification duty, with different scopes.

Kitsap County and Grays Harbor County superior courts do not require disclosure in the text read; they hold the signer responsible under CR 11 and provide for sanctions where cited authority does not exist.

As at 31 October 2026.

Telling the court and the client

• Tell the courtVaries by court

  Court disclosure: depends. No statewide court rule found requires a lawyer to tell the court that AI was used. Lincoln County Superior Court requires a disclosure footnote when a brief or memorandum was materially drafted or supplemented with AI.

  Clallam County District Court II requires a certification when AI assisted any document or evidence. Clark County District Court requires disclosure for AI-assisted evidence, exhibits and factual material. Pierce County's 2025 every-filing AI certification is not in the rules effective 1 September 2026.

  Client disclosure/consent: depends. Advisory Opinion 202505 says circumstances dictate the extent and nature of the communication required (the client's needs and expectations, the scope of the representation, the sensitivity of the information). It says the sensitivity of the information may require consultation, and sometimes informed consent under RPC 1.6(a), when the sensitivity of the information or the client's objectives call for it, and it points to the engagement agreement as a place to record that.

  The WSBA ethics FAQ says lawyers should consult when AI use affects confidentiality or matches the client's preferences.

  Lincoln County Superior Court Local Rules, LCR 7(b)(6)

  LARLJ 49, Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Submissions

  LGR 30.1, Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Submissions

  Pierce County Superior Court Local Rules

  Compiled 2025 local rule changes, PCLGR 14(e) Artificial Intelligence

  Compiled 2025 local rule changes, PCLER 901(c) Evidence created or modified by artificial intelligence

  Advisory Opinion 202505, Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Tools in Law Practice

  Ethics FAQ, artificial intelligence tools
• Tell the clientVaries

  Same basis and sources as above.