Just like the internet revolutionized access to information, AI is revolutionizing clients' ability to take on their own legal work in a way that presents ethical pitfalls for attorneys, said Jennifer Mohamed, managing member of the Law Office of Jennifer Mohamed LLC in Flemington.
"What does it mean for us to have more — hopefully — educated clients about legal issues? That's not going to go away," Mohamed said.
The New Jersey State Bar Association hosted Monday's panel discussion, which explored the intersection of AI and legal ethics in the wake of the U.S. v. Heppner case in the federal Southern District of New York.
In that case, a judge ruled that documents a defendant generated with AI and his attorney's responses to those documents were not protected by attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine.
Panelists discussed the emerging problems they face from a client pool that's increasingly capable of attempting their own legal work, as well as potential solutions.
Mohamed stressed the importance of being transparent with clients about what she uses AI for and what they can use AI for while she represents them. She said she brings the subject up to clients during initial consults and includes "guardrails" in her engagement letters warning against things like uploading confidential information into non-private AI systems.
The key, she said, is to be proactive about raising the subject and open about AI.
"Be honest," Mohamed said. "Everybody knows that everybody's using AI, and if you're pretending like you don't to your clients, I think that could cut into the trust."
Panel moderator Ayesha Hamilton, principal at Hamilton Law Firm PC in Princeton, said she's had to have "stern conversations" with clients about the risks they run to their own cases by using AI.
She also noted that clients' use of AI can drive up their own costs. Hamilton described a recent case in which she sent a client a two-page demand letter, only for the client to send back an expanded five-page letter that they had produced with AI.
Hamilton said reviewing documents like that is an expensive detour for her and for her clients.
"Is that really why you came to me? To have me parrot back what you got off of AI?" Hamilton said.
Aside from the cost, simply handling the logistics of wading through AI-generated materials from clients presents its own challenges, according to W. Lois Kahagi, a solo family law attorney in Iselin.
In the family law area of law, working with clients coming in with "copious" AI-generated legal documents while keeping costs down for them is a growing problem, she said.
"That's the challenge that we are undertaking in dealing with AI, clients and billing," Kahagi said.
The issue is an evolving one, Mohamed told the panel, one that does not necessarily have clear answers yet, but demands at a minimum that attorneys think about how to manage their clients' AI use.
"It's a part of keeping up with the changing times," Mohamed said.
--Editing by Emily Kokoll.
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