In a new legal ethics opinion, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and Philadelphia Bar Association have jointly emphasized that lawyers must maintain proficiency in all relevant technological means, including generative AI, to meet their professional obligations. The detailed opinion outlines 12 points of responsibility for lawyers utilizing generative AI in their practice, addressing key areas such as maintaining accuracy, ensuring competence, safeguarding confidentiality, and managing potential biases and conflicts of interest.
The ethics opinion highlights that, while generative AI introduces unique challenges—such as the potential for generating inaccurate (“hallucinated”) text and inherent biases—it also opens new ethical frontiers. Lawyers are cautioned to verify all citations and ensure the truthfulness and accuracy of AI-generated content, reinforcing that professional judgment cannot be replaced by AI.
To mitigate the risk of misuse, the opinion mandates lawyers to communicate transparently with clients about the use of AI tools, sometimes even requiring client consent. The broader implications of this guidance extend to other areas of legal practice, emphasizing the need for lawyers to be vigilant against AI’s potential to perpetuate biases and discriminatory practices.
The full text of the opinion, including a comprehensive primer on generative AI, can be accessed here. For further reading on the issue, including the technological divides it may create among law firms, see this article.