California Passes First-in-the-Nation Law Regulating Attorneys’ AI Use

California has led the nation in its efforts to regulate and provide guidance on the use of generative artificial intelligence by the state court system and attorneys admitted to practice by the State Bar of California. Now, with the passage of Senate Bill 574, California is the first state to pass legislation regulating attorneys’ use of generative AI in the practice of law.

On February 20, 2025, Senator Tom Umberg (D-Orange County), Chair of California Senate Judiciary Committee, with co-author Assembly Member Alexandra Macedo (R-AD33), Vice Chair of California Assembly Judiciary Committee, introduced S.B. 574 to amend the California Business and Professions Code and the California Code of Civil Procedure.

S.B. 574 passed the California Senate with a 39 to 0 vote on January 29, 2026, and began working its way through the Assembly. On the final day of the legislative session, S.B. 574 passed the California Assembly, and the bill was sent to the Senate for concurrence. Concurring with the Assembly amendments, S.B. 574 passed with a 39 to 0 vote on August 31, 2026. Notably, S.B. 574 passed both the Senate and Assembly with unanimous bipartisan support. Now, the enrolled bill awaits action by Governor Gavin Newsom (D).

Major Provisions of Senate Bill 574

S.B. 574, as passed by the California State Legislature, regulates attorneys’ use of AI to assist in the practice of law, amending the California Business and Professions Code to include section 6068.1, as follows:

• upholds the duty to exercise reasonable competence and diligence in the practice of law;
• prohibits an attorney from delegating the practice of law to generative AI;
• prohibits entering confidential, personal identifying, and other nonpublic information into generative AI, as specified;
• requires an attorney to verify the accuracy of generative AI outputs, including verifying all citations, and correcting any erroneous or hallucinated outputs; and
• requires attorney disclosure of generative AI use to the court.

Section 1, S.B. 574, 2025-2026 Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2026), adding Cal. Civ. Code § 6068.1.

It also amends the California Code of Civil Procedure adding C.C.P. § 128.7(b)(2), imposing a duty on the attorney of record to personally verify each citation, including any citation provided by generative AI, and defines “generative artificial intelligence” as an “artificial intelligence system that can generate derived synthetic content, including text, images, video, and audio that emulates the structure and characteristics of the system’s training data.” Section 3, S.B. 574, 2025-2025 Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2026), adding C.C.P. § 128.7(b)(2).