Bar to Release Generative AI Tools Guide

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Bar members should soon have access to a practical guide for using generative AI tools, the Standing Committee on Technology learned Wednesday.

Miami attorney Karl Klein told the committee at a November 6 meeting that the guide should be available on LegalFuel: The Practice Resource Center of The Florida Bar’s website in the coming weeks.

“The guide has been drafted, it’s pending internal review by the committee, and then the Bar will post it,” he said.

A veteran Florida Bar board member, Klein serves as vice chair of the Board Technology Committee, one of several Bar panels that are collaborating to keep Bar members abreast of the latest technology developments.

The Board Technology Committee is also considering tech-related initiatives for expanding access to justice, as well as a “technology competency audit.”

The “audit” would help lawyers better understand and more efficiently employ common office tools, such as Microsoft Office, Word, and Excel.

“Where attorneys can test their competency with Office programs, and learn tips to work more efficiently,” Klein said.

Standing Committee on Technology Chair Diane Perez, a Coral Gables labor and employment lawyer, urged the panel to begin generating ideas for topics for a daylong technology symposium that the committee produces every year for the Annual Florida Bar Convention.

The 2024 symposium was a big hit, Perez said.

“We had over 100 attendees for part one in the morning, and part two in the afternoon was a huge success,” she said.

Tampa business attorney and Standing Committee on Technology Committee member Vanessa Ferguson suggested that symposium planners consider offering tips for lawyers to safely input case information into a generative AI tool.

“It might be a good idea in a webinar, and do it at the symposium live, to show people how to input information without disclosing too much, showing the privacy concerns,” she said.

Ocala attorney and Florida Bar board member Gordon Glover co-chairs the Special Committee on AI Tools & Resources. Glover told the Standing Committee on Technology that the AI committee is shifting focus.

The AI committee spent last year helping develop Ethics Opinion 24-1, which offers the first comprehensive guidelines for the ethical use of generative AI in the practice of law. It also proposed AI-related comments to Florida Bar rules that the Supreme Court recently approved.

The AI panel will focus on developing practical guides for using AI-based legal tools, Glover said. He suggested that the Standing Committee on Technology consider complementing the effort with short video guides.

“This year we’re trying to focus more on the applications and how they are affecting our practice,” he said. Glover noted that many lawyers are successfully employing free generative AI tools, including Chat GPT.

“I think some lawyers would argue ChatGPT is even better for some of the applications than some of the paid products,” he said. “We don’t want to endorse anything, just something to show lawyers how they work.”

Standing Committee on Technology member Kirsten Davis suggested recruiting judges to discuss how they use generative AI to manage their dockets. A Stetson Law professor, Davis is faculty director of online legal education strategies, and provost faculty fellow for generative artificial intelligence and higher education.

Just keeping up with the latest advances in generative AI legal tools is a challenge, Davis said.

“Things are changing rapidly,” she said. “The tools are rolling out as fast as I can keep up. We have Co-Pilot at the university and the things that changed overnight are unbelievable.”

Source: Florida Bar

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