In this free interactive continuing legal education (CLE) course, participants will explore the professional responsibility obligations that arise after generative AI tools move from pilot to everyday legal practice. Through ABA ethics rules and opinions, evolving state guidance, and recent judicial decisions, the panel will examine how legal departments can govern AI-assisted work while meeting duties of competence, candor, confidentiality, supervision, and independent professional judgment.
Using ABA Model Rules, Formal Opinion 512, evolving state bar guidance, and recent judicial decisions involving AI-generated legal work, we’ll unpack how attorneys can responsibly oversee AI-assisted work in practice. Participants will explore issues including verification of AI output, hallucinated authorities, confidentiality and privilege, supervision of nonlawyer and autonomous systems, and the growing divergence in AI guidance across jurisdictions.
The session will also examine practical approaches to governing AI at scale, including risk-based human review, documentation and audit trails, escalation processes, outside counsel guidelines, and controls for agentic AI systems. We’ll discuss how legal departments can build governance frameworks that remain defensible as AI capabilities, ethical guidance, and regulatory expectations continue to evolve.
The program will conclude with practical considerations for demonstrating reasonable supervision and responsible AI use, followed by an audience Q&A.