Talk Justice, an LSC Podcast: Do Existing Legal Ethics Rules Cover AI?
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Carl Rauscher
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WASHINGTON— Dean Andrew Perlman of Suffolk Law School joins host Cat Moon for a discussion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and legal ethics on the latest episode of LSC’s “Talk Justice” podcast, released today. Perlman authored an article in February of this year, “The Legal Ethics of Generative AI,” which describes how lawyers can use generative AI while satisfying their ethical obligations.
“I think when there's a new technology that comes out or some new development in the law related to lawyers, there's an instinct to think that we need some new rule [or] we need a new regulatory approach,” Perlman says.
However, Perlman believes that the existing rules have held up well to new technologies. Fifteen years ago, he was chief reporter of the ABA’s Ethics 20/20 Commission which reviewed professional conduct rules. He explains that even though there was no way to anticipate generative AI back then, the committee was deliberate in recommending changes that they thought would hold up to evolving technology. He says rules to do with confidentiality, competence and supervision of non-lawyer assistance are applicable to AI use.
“I think the big takeaway here is—and I think the ethics opinions reflect this point—we just need to look at the existing rules, understand how they play out in this context, and that provides pretty good guidance for lawyers when they're thinking about what they need to do with regard to generative AI,” says Perlman.
While recognizing it is not a perfect analogy, Perlman says the current response to generative AI calls to mind the reaction to email when it was a new technology. Several ethics opinions at the time warned that email was a confidentiality concern, but now it is basically a requirement for lawyers to use email. Email is just one example of many technologies that the legal profession has learned to embrace, but Perlman thinks that nothing that has come in the past is quite like generative AI.
“What makes generative AI potentially different is that I believe that this will be the most important technology ever invented for the legal profession—it's going to have the most significant impact on the way in which lawyers go about their work than anything else,” says Perlman. “That includes email, electronic research, digital research, e-discovery—all of those are important, but I think generative AI will be the most important of them all.”
“When it comes to the duty of competence, lawyers need to pay attention to generative AI as it evolves in the coming years,” Perlman continues.
Talk Justice episodes are available online and on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.