AI and the practice of law
In this activity, we’ll be talking about “AI and the practice of law.”
Please download and read this article below, and we will discuss this topic via the audio lecture in the following steps.
Abstract
Technology is changing both the substance of lawyers’ work and the modes of delivering legal services. Lawyers, as facilitators of their clients’ innovations, help propel new technology into the mainstream. At the same time, the practice of law itself is subject to myriad rules and regulations. Innovation in the legal profession, such as advancements in the tools for delivering legal services, directly impacts lawyers and the way they work. The legal ethics rules and substantive law dictating lawyer conduct now expressly require a duty of technological competence. This duty of technological competence has come about at a time when innovation, often fueled by artificial intelligence, has produced new legal technology, or “lawtech.” Lawtech developments require lawyers to adapt the very tools of their trade in order to stay competent.
This Article first defines disruptive technology, both as to innovation relevant to clients who may be tech disruptors and as to lawtech that lawyers may be using in their own practice. It defines the ethical pitfalls of both aspects of disruptive technology, starting with the potential pitfalls of representing tech disruptor clients, including the risk of over-association with the client or engaging in illegal or extra-legal activity in the name of innovation. It then shifts to discussing the ethical pitfalls tech-averse lawyers face and urges lawyers to allow new technology to augment and improve the practice of law itself. New technology is good for the legal profession, on the whole, and lawyers can be a part of the disruption while remaining within their ethical bounds.
Full article McPeak, Agnieszka, Disruptive Technology and the Ethical Lawyer (April 19, 2019). University of Toledo Law Review, Vol. 50, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3374961
Page 462, 463, 464 465 are are helpful to answer the quiz, and Page 469 (or footnote 96), 470, 472, 473 are conductive to the final test.
AI for Legal Professionals (I): Law and Policy
AI for Legal Professionals (I): Law and Policy
Reach your personal and professional goals
Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.
Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.
