With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming so popular in many areas of life, there are undoubtedly changes that have to be made in rules and guidelines for some of the most highly regulated professions. Recently, the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility offered a statement, called Formal Opinion 512, on the use of generative AI (GAI) within the legal practice field.

In short, the statement is designed to make it clear that lawyers must always provide competent representation that continues to meet ABA guidelines, and that includes fact-checking any information they receive from GAI models. There are benefits to using GAI for some types of legal tasks, but there are also risks to using any kind of AI that may provide inaccurate data.

Especially for attorneys and others in the legal field, being accurate can affect the lives and livelihoods of clients. With that in mind, it’s crucial that attorneys don’t just generate briefs and other documents through GAI without editing, fact-checking, and examining them for errors before they make their way to the client, the court system, or other attorneys.

Confidentiality is also a vital part of legal interactions, and the ABA rules require attorneys to keep all client data confidential. That includes anything generated by AI or documents where AI was used. The information of former and prospective clients also has to be kept confidential, and the only way that can be breached is through the informed consent of the clients themselves.

Since communication is vital between attorneys and their clients, every attorney must be clear and direct in the ways GAI will be used. Transparency must be a focus of this communication, and attorneys have to ensure they’re continuing to maintain their fiduciary duties in the face of a changing AI landscape. Additionally, lawyers can’t charge clients for the time they spend learning to use AI tools, but they can charge for the time they spend using those tools on a client’s case.

The goal of the ABA’s rules is to ensure that attorneys stay vigilant about protecting clients and providing them with quality and value as GAI changes the game for their field and others.

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