Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday legal practice. Lawyers use AI for legal research, drafting, discovery, contract review, litigation analysis, client intake, billing, marketing, and other routine tasks. While AI can improve efficiency and reduce costs, careless use can result in fabricated legal authorities, disclosure of confidential information, misleading communications, improper billing, and sanctions.

This CLE course examines the practical and ethical implications of AI from the lawyer’s perspective. It addresses the benefits and risks of AI-assisted legal work, including hallucinated cases and quotations, unreliable research, defective filings, and other emerging issues. The program also explores attorneys’ duties of competence, confidentiality, communication, candor, supervision, fees, advertising, and unauthorized practice under the ABA Model Rules and applicable state ethics guidance.

The course also addresses AI-related data protection and cybersecurity concerns, including data retention, vendor access, AI training practices, cross-border data transfers, protective orders, and client confidentiality. It concludes with practical guidance for developing law-firm AI policies, assessing AI tools by risk, verifying AI-generated content, protecting privilege, supervising AI use, billing ethically, and using AI in client communications and marketing.