Judge George C. Hanks Jr. sits in the Southern District of Texas

Judge George C. Hanks Jr. sits in the Southern District of Texas, one of the busiest federal courts in the country for energy, maritime, and commercial litigation. While Judge Brantley Starr in the Northern District grabbed headlines as the first federal judge to require AI certification, the S.D. Texas followed with its own district-wide approach through General Order 2025-04, which applies to every judge in the district—including Judge Hanks.

Here's the practical reality: if you're filing before Judge Hanks, you're operating under both the district's general order on generative AI and whatever individual expectations his chambers maintains. The S.D. Texas order requires attorneys to exercise independent legal judgment and thoroughly review any filing prepared with AI assistance before submission. Don't treat this as a formality—Judge Hanks has a reputation for holding attorneys to high standards on the substance of their filings.

What the S.D. Texas General Order on AI Requires

General Order 2025-04, signed on May 7, 2025, applies district-wide across all divisions of the Southern District of Texas—Houston, Galveston, Laredo, Brownsville, McAllen, Victoria, and Corpus Christi. The order requires every attorney to exercise independent legal judgment and thoroughly review any filing prepared with generative AI assistance before submitting it to the court. It doesn't ban AI use outright, but it makes unmistakably clear that Rule 11 obligations attach to every word in a filing, regardless of whether a human or an algorithm drafted it. Violations can result in sanctions including monetary penalties, payment of opposing counsel's fees, and nonmonetary directives.

Judge Hanks' Courtroom and Practice Expectations

Judge Hanks has served on the S.D. Texas bench since 2014, appointed by President Obama. He handles a heavy caseload of employment discrimination, civil rights, maritime, and commercial disputes. His courtroom is known for efficiency and intolerance of sloppy lawyering. While he hasn't issued a separate individual AI standing order beyond the district's general order, practitioners who appear before him report that his chambers expects meticulous citation accuracy and well-reasoned briefing. In a district where AI-generated hallucinated citations have already surfaced in other judges' courtrooms, Judge Hanks' emphasis on substance over volume makes AI verification particularly important.

AI Sanctions Risks in the Southern District of Texas

The S.D. Texas has already seen cases where attorneys submitted filings containing fabricated citations generated by AI tools. Under Rule 11(c), the court can impose sanctions including nonmonetary directives, penalties payable to the court, or payment of the opposing party's attorney's fees and expenses. The district's general order reinforces that these sanctions apply with full force to AI-assisted filings. Judge Hanks sits in a district where other judges have already flagged AI-related problems, which means the entire bench is primed to scrutinize filings for hallmarks of unverified AI output—unusual citation formats, cases that don't appear in Westlaw, and legal reasoning that sounds plausible but doesn't hold up.

How S.D. Texas Compares to Other Texas Federal Courts

Texas now has AI-related requirements across all four federal districts. The Northern District has Judge Brantley Starr's pioneering individual certification order. The Eastern District amended its local rules (effective December 1, 2023) to require attorneys to review and verify AI-generated content. The Western District has individual judge orders. And the Southern District took a district-wide approach with General Order 2025-04. The practical difference matters: in the N.D. Texas, you need to check each judge's individual standing orders. In the S.D. Texas, one general order covers every judge, creating a uniform baseline. But don't assume uniformity means leniency—individual judges like Hanks may have additional expectations beyond the general order.

Compliance Checklist for Filing Before Judge Hanks

Step 1: Before filing, run every citation through Westlaw or Lexis—no exceptions. Step 2: If you used any generative AI tool (ChatGPT, Claude, Harvey, CoCounsel) at any stage, document your verification process internally. Step 3: Review the full text of General Order 2025-04 on the S.D. Texas website to ensure you're meeting current requirements. Step 4: Check Judge Hanks' individual standing orders page for any additional requirements beyond the general order. Step 5: Brief your entire litigation team—associates, paralegals, contract attorneys—because the obligation extends to everyone who touches the filing. The cost of missing a fabricated citation in Judge Hanks' courtroom is far higher than the cost of verification.

The Bottom Line: Before filing in Judge Hanks' courtroom, comply with S.D. Texas General Order 2025-04 by independently verifying every AI-assisted citation, documenting your verification process, and ensuring every team member understands that Rule 11 applies to AI-generated content with full force.