Tennessee.
Attorney AI ethics guidance status for Tennessee as of May 9, 2026. Task force exploring recommendations.
Tennessee bar AI ethics status. #
The Tennessee Bar Association has a task force exploring recommendations on AI use. As of May 2026, no formal opinion has issued.
Authoritative source: https://www.tba.org/
Last verified: . If this row text disagrees with the linked source, the source controls.
What this means in practice. #
For practitioners admitted in Tennessee, the absence of a formal Tennessee-specific AI opinion does not mean AI use is unregulated. ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) is treated as persuasive authority by Tennessee as it is in other no-formal-opinion states. The recurring duties under the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct apply to AI use the same way they apply to any other technology: competence (Rule 1.1), confidentiality (Rule 1.6), supervision (Rule 5.3), and candor to the tribunal (Rule 3.3).
Practitioners should treat ABA Op. 512 as the operating reference until Tennessee-specific guidance issues. Monitor the source link above for updates.
Comparison to ABA Op. 512. #
No formal Tennessee opinion has issued, so direct comparison to ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) is not yet possible. ABA Op. 512 governs as persuasive authority. The Tennessee task force's output is expected to track the ABA framework closely; most state opinions do. Practitioners should monitor the source link above for the formal output.
Federal court AI standing orders affecting Tennessee practitioners. #
No widely-noted court-wide or individual-judge AI standing orders affecting Tennessee's federal districts have surfaced as of May 2026. Individual judges may have issued orders that are not in our representative list. Practitioners should consult each assigned judge's standing orders before filing in any federal matter. The comprehensive corpus of federal-judge AI orders is maintained by Bloomberg Law and Law360 (both paywalled).
Last verified: . The comprehensive corpus of federal-judge AI orders is maintained by Bloomberg Law and Law360.
AI case-law context for Tennessee. #
Tennessee sits within the 6th Circuit (United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit). Decisions of the 6th Circuit are binding on the federal courts within Tennessee; state-court decisions of the Tennessee appellate system bind Tennessee's state courts; Supreme Court decisions are binding on everyone. The Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision directly addressing attorney AI use, so the controlling case law is at the circuit and district levels:
No. 2:24-cv-12333, 2026 WL 373043 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 10, 2026) (Patti, U.S.M.J.) — civil-discovery decision on AI prompts and outputs as discoverable work product, reaching opposite conclusion to Heppner on related issues. Persuasive throughout the 6th Circuit.
N.D. Ohio — standing order on generative AI requiring disclosure, verification, and sanctions for non-compliance.
Mata v. Avianca and Park v. Kim are routinely cited in 6th Circuit AI sanctions matters.
Practitioners in Tennessee should treat the cases above as the operating framework for AI-related conduct until Tennessee-specific binding precedent or Tennessee bar guidance controls a particular question. The verification duty under Mata and Park v. Kim has been routinely cited in sanctions matters across all federal circuits including the 6th Circuit.
Tennessee legal landscape. #
- Eastern District of Tennessee (E.D. Tenn.)
- Middle District of Tennessee (M.D. Tenn.)
- Western District of Tennessee (W.D. Tenn.)
The Tennessee Bar Association is voluntary; the Board of Professional Responsibility handles discipline. Three federal districts.
Most US states have adopted the substance of ABA Model Rule 1.1, Comment 8 — that the duty of competence requires lawyers to keep abreast of the benefits and risks of relevant technology. Whether Tennessee has adopted Comment 8 verbatim, in modified form, or relies on the underlying Rule 1.1 text alone, the substantive duty of technological competence applies to AI-related practice in Tennessee.
The Tennessee task-force output is expected to track the ABA Op. 512 framework. Multi-state practitioners should treat ABA Op. 512 as the operating reference and apply any state-specific additions when the Tennessee task force's formal product issues.
When might Tennessee issue formal AI guidance? #
Forecast signal: positive — task force underway.
A formal Tennessee AI ethics opinion is most plausibly issued in the 2026 or 2027 calendar year. The Tennessee bar has an active task force or working group considering AI; once the task-force product is approved through the usual bar review process (typically: committee draft → bar leadership review → public-comment period of 30–60 days → final adoption), an opinion can be issued within roughly 6–12 months of the task force completing its substantive work.
What practitioners can watch for, in roughly the order in which they would appear: (1) committee announcement on the Tennessee bar website that an AI ethics opinion is under consideration; (2) draft circulated for comment (public comment period typically 30–60 days); (3) final approved opinion published in the bar's ethics-opinions index. The transitions from (1) to (3) typically span 4–8 months in active jurisdictions, longer in less active ones.
Until then, practitioners should default to ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) as the persuasive operating framework, supplemented by the controlling case-law in §05 above and the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct as applied to technology use generally.
Tennessee-specific FAQ.
Has the Tennessee bar issued formal AI ethics guidance?
Not yet. A task force or working group has been established and is exploring recommendations. As of May 2026, no formal opinion has issued. ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) governs as persuasive authority in Tennessee until the task-force output is published.
Which federal districts cover Tennessee?
Tennessee has 3 federal districts: Eastern District of Tennessee (E.D. Tenn.), Middle District of Tennessee (M.D. Tenn.), and Western District of Tennessee (W.D. Tenn.). Federal AI standing orders are typically issued at the individual-judge level. The Bloomberg Law and Law360 trackers maintain the comprehensive corpus of federal-judge AI orders nationwide.
Does Tennessee have a mandatory unified bar?
Yes. The Tennessee bar is a mandatory unified bar — all licensed attorneys must be members. AI ethics guidance issued by the bar applies to all admitted practitioners. Discipline for AI-related misconduct flows through the bar's formal disciplinary regime under the Supreme Court of Tennessee's plenary supervisory authority.
How should a Tennessee attorney comply with AI-related ethics rules absent a Tennessee-specific opinion?
Treat ABA Formal Opinion 512 as the operating reference. Apply the standard duties under the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct: competence (Rule 1.1), confidentiality (Rule 1.6), supervision (Rule 5.3), candor toward the tribunal (Rule 3.3), and reasonableness of fees (Rule 1.5). Verify all AI-generated content before submission. Use closed-loop AI tools (not public consumer-grade) for any matter involving client information.
Does AI vendor diligence apply in Tennessee?
Yes. The supervisory duty under Tennessee's analog to Rule 5.3 (responsibilities regarding nonlawyer assistance) applies to AI vendor relationships. North Carolina's 2024 FEO 1 frames AI vendors explicitly under Rule 5.3, and that framing has been treated as persuasive in other jurisdictions including Tennessee. Vendor diligence — privacy-policy review, data-retention terms, training-on-customer-data clauses — is a precondition to selecting an AI tool for client work.