Legal Ethics

ABA Guidance on AI Use

The American Bar Association issued its first formal ethics guidance on generative artificial intelligence use in legal practice through Formal Opinion 512 in July 2024, establishing that lawyers using AI must “fully consider their applicable ethical obligations” under existing Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Formal Opinion 512 addresses six primary areas of ethical concern: competence (Model Rule 1.1), confidentiality (Model Rule 1.6), communication with clients (Model Rule 1.4), candor toward the tribunal (Model Rules 3.1 and 3.3), supervisory responsibilities (Model Rules 5.1 and 5.3), and reasonable fees. Under the competence requirement, lawyers must exercise the “legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation” and understand “the benefits and risks associated” with AI technologies, though they need not become AI experts but rather must have a reasonable understanding of the capabilities and limitations of AI tools they use. The opinion emphasizes that while AI may be used as a springboard for legal work, lawyers may not rely solely on AI to perform tasks requiring professional judgment and must independently verify AI outputs with the appropriate level of review depending on the specific task and tool used.