AI Tools & Resources Committee to draft rules and an ethics opinion
The panel has also discussed whether legal advice provided by generative AI 'could be considered the unauthorized practice of law'
Michael Orr
A special committee studying generative AI and its impact on the legal profession is off to an impressive start, President Scott Westheimer assured the Board of Governors last week.
Westheimer said he expects the “Special Committee on AI Tools & Resources,” to present proposed amendments and a draft ethics opinion to the full board in December.
“This is a great group,” Westheimer said. “They’re moving quickly because they have to.”
Special committee member Michael Orr of Jacksonville told fellow board members that the committee has been meeting weekly to complete various projects and reviews.
Co-Chairs Duffy Myrtetus and Gordon Glover have asked the committee to examine how “generative AI interacts with our current rules, how generative AI may change various aspects of the practice of law, and how generative AI may improve access to justice,” Orr said.
The committee has formed two subcommittees, one focusing on generative AI and the regulation of attorneys, and the other focusing on generative AI and court proceedings, Orr said.
The former, which Orr chairs, is conducting “a general assessment of generative AI effects upon the regulation of attorney conduct and responsibilities,” Orr said.
The subcommittee has focused on the Rules of Professional Conduct, and more specifically, the duty to competence, duty of confidentiality and fiduciary care, duty of client notice and consent, and the duty of accountability and supervision.
The subcommittee has already submitted proposed amendments to the Rules Committee, Orr said.
“We are also formulating a request to the Bar to provide an ethics opinion in the realm of artificial intelligence to give guidance to Florida lawyers,” he said.
The panel has also discussed whether legal advice provided by generative AI “could be considered the unauthorized practice of law.”
The other subcommittee, chaired by former board member Renée Thompson of Ocala, is examining such things as AI certifications in pleadings and disclosures to the court, Orr said.
“Whether or not you have to disclose that you were using AI in filings, issues surrounding the integrity of evidence, including identifying evolving challenges for the courts from attorneys using AI, such as electronic measures to verify authorities cited, and confirming the authenticity of documents, audio and video recordings admitted into evidence,” he said.
The panel is also looking at how AI use by litigants is impacting court clerks, Orr said.
“And finally,” Orr said, “the impact of generative AI on self-represented litigants, and whether it can help with access-to-justice issues.”
