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By Jared Correia, Red Cave Consulting
Artificial intelligence is the most important business application for law firms since cloud software began to be used aggressively by attorneys sixteen years ago. Much like the adoption of the cloud by lawyers, artificial intelligence usage by law firms promises to operate in a cultural lag – in which that usage will far outstrip the ability of ethics agencies to promulgate rules around it. It’s sort of a tough spot for attorneys to be in: there’s a technology available they’re almost forced to use, in order to keep up with their competitors; yet, there are no real rules about how to use it.
The good news is lawyers can use existing strategies to manage their use of artificial intelligence. There are five things in particular that lawyers should be cognizant of when engaging artificial intelligence tools:
(1) Vetting AI Tools. Per the comment to Rule 1.1 of the lawyers’ rules of professional conduct in almost every jurisdiction, part of the competency requirement is based on the attorney’s understanding the risks and benefits of law firm technology. Law firms should endeavor to vet each technology tool under consideration for adoption. So, what would that entail? Well, it could be a number of things, but here’s a list to get you started: Take demos of softwares you want to use and ask questions. Develop an understanding of the security attributes of the software you choose. Test the software before formally adding them to your business, via ‘sandbox’ versions, or trials. Record materials around your vetting process.
Basically, you need to have a deep knowledge of what you’re getting yourself into.
(2) Maintaining Knowledge of AI Tools. The second component of that competency requirement is attorneys must continue to maintain the software they utilize in a way that takes into account the benefits of the tools, but also the inherent risks. That includes updating authentication protocols for access. Keeping abreast of changes to the software and employing edits to the law firm’s usage when necessary. In terms of AI software, you need to understand whether and how the information you input into the tool is used to train it and how that affects the confidential nature of the information.
(3) Get the Business Edition. Lawyers, as business owners, should never use free software. Attorneys should always opt to pay for the business edition of software, even as free tools in the same suite are available, eg – pay for the Business Standard version of Microsoft 365. Why? It’s because paid software tools have better security protocols, as well as allowing for an increased ability to opt out of certain feature sets.
(4) Opt for LegalTech. Take that a step further, and it makes sense to also buy legaltech software – which is built for attorneys by people who intimately understand the needs of lawyers around data security and confidentiality. This is the same reason you’d choose a legal-specific tool for payment processing, which would be set up for managing a trust account. Many legal softwares are adopting AI features – even as you read this!
(5) Read Your Contract. When you contract with a software company, the governing document is called the ‘service level agreement’ (SLA). You should read it anyway. But, in the context of this discussion, you need to read it with an eye toward any provisions related to AI. And, that means if you’re already using software that has now adopted AI features – look to see how those terms have changed based on the implementation of those tools.•
Jared D. Correia, esq., is the founder and CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting. He is a regular presenter at local, regional and national events.
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