On March 13th, Mr. Chomiac de Sas spoke at the Bordeaux Bar School (EDA Aliénor) to offer lawyers a training session dedicated to artificial intelligence and its integration within law firms.
We thank all the colleagues who attended this training and for the very interesting discussions that these topics generated.
The firm frequently works with companies and universities to train professionals and lawyers on topics related to digital law: communication and advertising, social media, video games and esports, GDPR and personal data protection, cybersecurity, etc.
The promises of artificial intelligence: lawyers & legal professions
Dependent on technological and IT tools, lawyers today operate in a society profoundly marked by continuous technological evolution:
Digitalization of formalities with court registries, online accounting management solutions, metaverses, electronic signatures, social networks, professional clouds, blockchain & cryptocurrencies, etc.
In this context, the democratization of access to artificial intelligence tools – machine learning/deep learning – and their chatbot interfaces (“LLM”) have transformed the approach to many of our activities.
The activities of lawyers in the face of artificial intelligence
Whether in advisory, litigation, audit, or compliance matters, artificial intelligence tools appear to offer significant advantages for lawyers: advanced technical research tools, support functions for legal research and consultation, drafting of pleadings, and assistance with related and ancillary tasks.
Their widespread use necessitates future consideration of changes in law firm business models in light of client demands and expectations regarding the increased value of research services.
The legal issues associated with AI in the legal profession
The challenges associated with training artificial intelligence tools using data processed by law firms also raise concerns, while the issues of responsibility regarding the future of transmitted data and the consolidation of databases demand particular rigor and vigilance.
Finally, the use of artificial intelligence tools by law firms raises the question of their notification, explanation, and even explicit authorization from their clients, depending on the needs and risks associated with the cases in question.
As an extension of the use of artificial intelligence tools in the legal field, their use by judges in litigation and dispute resolution also raises significant questions, particularly concerning statistical justice or predictive justice.
Artificial intelligence and legal ethics
Given all these issues, the use of artificial intelligence tools raises several points regarding the ethical rules governing the practice of law:
Professional secrecy and the challenges of data and work confidentiality, the methods of pseudonymization/anonymization and their limitations, and more generally, the choice of artificial intelligence tools.
Essential principles, including questions of loyalty, competence, and prudence in verifying content, and attention to the risks of cognitive biases and hallucinations in AI processing requests.
Related and ancillary activities, which have expanded in recent decades, particularly since 2015, have allowed lawyers to offer their commercial services through software or digital solutions that may include algorithmic or generative artificial intelligence tools.
Advertising. Governed by several legal, regulatory, and ethical standards, lawyer communication and advertising require adherence to essential principles, honest and fair information, and respect for professional secrecy.
Subject to these conditions, the use of artificial intelligence tools to support marketing strategies appears very promising: accelerating content production, defining…
PCS Avocat regularly advises on issues related to lawyer communication and the ethical challenges they raise. Find all our training courses here.
For more detailed information on AI marketing, see our dedicated section.
