Category «Legal Ethics»

It’s Not the AI. It’s the Lawyer: We Don’t Have a Hallucination Problem, We Have a Serious Ethics Problem

Government information librarian Charlie Amiot makes a strong case for the misinterpretation of the cause of hallucinations in the legal work product. Amiot argues that If you happen to be someone who has a set of encyclopedias sitting next to them, you’re undoubtedly sitting next to hundreds of hallucinations, inserted both at the time of print and facts that have mutated with the passage of time since being printed. Any newspaper or magazine you pick up contains a hallucination. Many textbooks and reference materials contain hallucinations as well. Arguably, only in fiction can there be no hallucinations. We are otherwise surrounded by and exposed to them on a daily and hourly basis. Continuously pointing to LLM hallucinations allows the word hallucination to do a whole lot of work at getting people off the hook of personal responsibility.

Subjects: AI, Communications, Legal Ethics, Legal Profession, Legal Research

YIKES! The Bluebook’s Generative AI Is Flawed

Despite its unpopularity and the availability of other citation manuals, The Bluebook remains widely used at many law schools to teach legal citation format to law students, and it is relied on by law reviews and courts. The twenty-second edition of The Bluebook was released in May 2025. This new edition includes a new rule—Rule 18.3—that crafts a citation format for legal writers to use when citing generative artificial intelligence (“AI”). This Book Review by Prof. Jessica R. Gunder proceeds in three parts. First, it examines the purpose of citations in legal writing and identifies circumstances in which the citation of generative AI output is appropriate. Second, it considers what The Bluebook requires of authors using generative AI technology and why The Bluebook’s requirements are inappropriate, focusing on: (1) errors within Rule 18.3 itself; (2) the unreasonable burden Rule 18.3 imposes; (3) Rule 18.3’s incompatibility with how generative AI technology is actually used; and (4) how the requirements imposed by Rule 18.3 violate attorney-client confidentiality requirements and work product protections. Third, and finally, it discusses why The Bluebook’s flawed approach matters and how it might be addressed.

Subjects: AI, Legal Ethics, Legal Profession, Legal Research, United States Law

Courts Adapt to the Challenges of Generative AI

AI in Law & Legal Tech Expert Nicole L. Black frames how AI is changing how legal work gets done, and the effects aren’t limited to law offices. Other legal organizations are equally impacted, including the courts. As judicial offices around the country grapple with the how and why of secure AI adoption, new rules, policies, and processes are being implemented to address the ethical and practical issues presented.

Subjects: AI, Courts & Technology, Legal Ethics, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Technology

Richard Susskind on AI for Lawyers: A Review of ‘How to Think About AI’

Whether you’re writing briefs, litigating high-stakes matters, lobbying policymakers or just trying to future-proof a career, Jerry Lawson affirms that Susskind’s book on legal AI gives you enough clarity to steer rather than drift. And in the AI era, that might be the most practical gift of all.

Subjects: AI, Book Reviews, Communications, Legal Ethics, Legal Profession

Consider The Turkey: philosopher’s new book might put you off your festive bird – and that’s exactly what he would want

This article by Benjamin Curtis is an overview of Australian philosopher Peter Singer who has been a champion of animal rights for more than 50 years. His basic philosophical position has remained the same: the suffering of animals is just as important as the suffering of human beings. Pain is pain, whether it is in animals or humans. So, just as we think it is wrong to cause unnecessary pain and suffering in humans, it is wrong to cause the same in animals. To think otherwise is “speciesist”.

Subjects: Ethics, Food & Drug Law, Legal Ethics, Legal Research

Review – Law Democratized: A Blueprint For Solving The Justice Crisis

Jerry Lawson rhetorically asks Is anyone in the country better qualified than Renee Knake Jefferson to write about access to justice? Professor of Law at the University of Houston, co-reporter for the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services, and designated by the American Bar Association as a “Legal Rebel,” she has long been a thought leader in the quest to make legal help available to all, regardless of resources. Her new book, Law Democratized: A Blueprint for Solving the Justice Crisis, does not disappoint.

Subjects: AI, Court Resources, Education, Ethics, Kodner and Cramer on the Case (Management), Legal Ethics, Legal Profession, Legal Research

Is using Generative AI just another form of outsourcing?

Is the implementation of generative AI simply a new flavor of outsourcing? How does this digital revolution reflect on our interpretation of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) ethical guidelines? How can we ensure that we maintain the sacrosanct standards of our profession as we step into this exciting future? Josh Kubicki⁠, Business Designer, Entrepreneur, University of Richmond School of Law Professor, presents a starting point to explore potential ethics considerations surrounding the use of generative AI.

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, Ethics, KM, Legal Ethics, Legal Marketing

AI has social consequences, but who pays the price? Tech companies’ problem with ‘ethical debt’

As a technology ethics educator and researcher, Carey Fiesler has thought about AI systems amplifying harmful biases and stereotypes, students using AI deceptively, privacy concerns, people being fooled by misinformation, and labor exploitation. Fiesler characterizes this not at technical debt but as accruing ethical debt. Just as technical debt can result from limited testing during the development process, ethical debt results from not considering possible negative consequences or societal harms. And with ethical debt in particular, the people who incur it are rarely the people who pay for it in the end.

Subjects: AI, Cyberlaw, Education, Ethics, Human Rights, KM, Legal Ethics, Technology Trends

The FBI is breaking into corporate computers to remove malicious code – smart cyber defense or government overreach?

Cybersecurity scholar Scott Shackelford discusses how the FBI has the authority right now to access privately owned computers without their owners’ knowledge or consent, and to delete software. It’s part of a government effort to contain the continuing attacks on corporate networks running Microsoft Exchange software, and it’s an unprecedented intrusion that’s raising legal questions about just how far the government can go.

Subjects: Communications Law, Computer Security, Cybercrime, Cyberlaw, Cybersecurity, Email Security, Legal Ethics, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Privacy

Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court: 7 questions answered

Alexis Karteron, constitutional law professor, Rutgers University, Newark, provides insight on what Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court, could mean for how that court works.

Subjects: Constitutional Law, Legal Ethics, Legal Profession, Legal Research, United States Law