A California State Bar committee has called for state lawmakers to ponder upon regulations regarding the non-lawyer utilisation of AI legal products. They are also recommending the provision of guidance for attorneys using these technologies. The entire story was reported by Bloomberg Law.
The California Bar’s board of trustees may adopt recommendations from the Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct on the use of generative AI by California lawyers, which includes aspects on disclosure and ethical billing. These developments in AI legal tools have the potential to improve access to justice by offering low-cost or free legal advice to those unable to afford an attorney.
However, the Committee voiced concerns that, while generative AI could be beneficial in minimizing the justice gap, it could lead to harm should self-represented individuals rely on incorrect information generated by the AI.
The Committee urged the board of trustees to liaise with the Californian legislature and Supreme Court to ascertain whether the unauthorized practice of law needs a clearer definition, and if licensing or regulating legal generative AI products is necessary.
Along with these considerations, the Committee recommends best practices for lawyers using generative AI, although they stop short of setting ethics rules. They refer to the proposed guidelines as an interim measure to guide the use of this evolving technology while further regulations and rules are deliberated upon.
The proposed practical guidelines urge attorneys to disclose to their clients when AI is used in their representation and discourage charging hourly fees for time saved using generative AI. Fees associated with generative AI may be billed “in compliance with applicable law,” as per the guidelines. The guidelines also touch upon AI’s threats to confidential information and underscore the need for humans to verify the technology’s outputs. The Committee called on the Bar to develop a minimum one-hour continuing legal education course on generative AI.
The unauthorized practice of law, or non-lawyers providing legal advice, has long been a contentious issue in California. Last year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that limited the state bar from considering the corporate ownership of law firms. More on this particular topic was covered by Bloomberg Law.
States across the nation are currently undergoing debates about tightening or loosening restrictions on who is permitted to practice law. Interesting examples include Utah, allowing entities otherwise unable to practice law to register for a regulated sandbox, where they can operate under state supervision.
Looking ahead, the Florida Bar is preparing a set of ethical principles for generative AI, a topic that will be discussed in their Nov. 30 committee meeting. The discussion will cover questions about gaining client consent for the use of AI, supervising the technology, and appropriate fees. Tasks forces in both New York and New Jersey’s bar associations are investigating generative AI guidelines. The Florida Bar has more information about the upcoming discussion.
Earlier this year, in a case that served as a wake-up call for many attorneys about the risks of AI, two lawyers wrongly used generative AI for a court motion without verifying its work, resulting in system-generated citations to non-existent cases. This problem has been termed ‘hallucination’. You can find more information on this particular case, Mata v. Avianca, here.