Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup, here.
Welcome to what captivates, haunts, inspires, and surprises me every week in the world of legal ethics.
Happy Monday!
Filevine’s New Legal AI Platform LOIS Turns AI Into A True Legal Coworker
Legal work isn’t slowing down, and the firms that win won’t be the ones working harder — they’ll be the ones working smarter.
Law Democratized: A Blueprint for Solving the Justice Crisis was featured on Times Square earlier this month! Check it out ⬇️ Recently, during a podcast interview with Bob Ambrogi (LawSites/LawNext), I had the chance to discuss the book and reflect on what has changed (and, importantly, what has not changed) since its publication in early 2024. The podcast which should be out next week.
Now for your headlines.
AI Built for Litigation. Verified by Design.
Grounded in authoritative content and verified at every step, Protégé is the only legal AI tool that delivers work you can trust—without exception.
Highlights from Last Week – Top Ten Headlines
#1 “Lawyers ‘Could be Negligent’ for Failing to Use AI.” From LegalFutures: “Lawyers and other professionals can be sued for negligence for failing to use artificial intelligence (AI), according to the latest legal statement from the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT). The UKTJ also gave examples of where professionals could be liable for lack of ‘reasonable care and skill’ in their use of AI, such as failing to carry out proper due diligence, failing to explain to clients how AI was being used or failing to check output for errors and biases.” Read more here.
#2 “Let the Cameras Roll at the Supreme Court.” From Gabe Roth (Fix the Court) in The Wall Street Journal: “Supreme Court justices and their lower-court colleagues serve for life. Unlike members of Congress, who run for office every two or six years, federal jurists have no professional incentive to play to the cameras and trawl for clicks.” Read more here.
#3 “University of Chicago Law School AI Strategy Bans Phones, Laptops in Class for First Year Students.” From CBS News: “The University of Chicago Law School is banning first-year students from using phones and laptops in the classroom as part of a broader strategy to curb AI usage. In a long statement released Thursday, the law school wrote that they already see artificial intelligence impacting higher education and the legal profession. They said they spent the past year to reflect on how to adopt their curriculum and policies in response to AI, seeking input from their community, alumni, law firm leaders, business leaders, legal technology executives and law firm associates, as well as their faculty, staff and students. ‘The feedback we have received throughout this process has been consistent,’ they wrote. ‘We need to ensure that our students actually learn to think critically, strategically, and independently without relying on AI; but we also must face the reality that AI tools are already widely available to our students, and our graduates will be expected to be prepared to use them in legal practice.’” Read more here.
#4 “Democrats Ask Courts to Bar Judges From Prediction Markets.” From Bloomberg Law: “Judiciary Committee Democrats called on the federal judiciary to ban judges and court employees from participating in prediction markets, warning this conduct may undermine judicial independence. Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), ranking member on the committee’s courts panel, asked a top federal judicial official in a letter Tuesday to ‘take prompt action’ on this issue. ‘Allowing judges and their staff to participate in prediction markets on matters pending before their courts plainly poses a huge direct threat to the legitimacy and reputation of the federal judiciary,’ the lawmakers wrote to Robert Conrad, director of the judiciary’s administrative office.” Read more here.
#5 “ABA Seeks Trump Docs In Suit Alleging Law Firm Intimidation.” From Law360: “The Trump Administration cannot rely on the presidential communications privilege to block disclosure of communications related to allegations that the president sought to intimidate law firms into conforming with his policy initiatives, the American Bar Association told a D.C. federal judge.” Read more here.
#6 “Protecting Privilege in a Changing Legal Landscape.” From JDSupra: “Privilege remains one of the legal profession’s most important protections, but its application is being tested in new ways. While the core principles have changed little, emerging technologies, evolving litigation tactics and increasingly sophisticated investigations are prompting courts to examine where privilege begins, where it ends and when it may be lost. For in-house legal teams, understanding these developments is essential to preserving privilege while navigating modern legal risks. [Here] are five areas of risk that warrant proactive steps to help prevent inadvertent disclosure.” Read more here.
#7 “UNESCO Supports the Development of Tanzania’s Judicial Curriculum on Artificial Intelligence and the Rule of Law.” From UNESCO: “Every person who enters a courtroom expects one thing above all else: that justice will be fair, impartial and delivered with integrity. As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes justice systems around the world, preserving these fundamental principles while embracing technological innovation has become one of the defining challenges of the digital era.” Read more here.
#8 “What AI Means for How We Develop the Next Generation of Lawyers.” From LegalFutures: “For decades, legal training followed a familiar pattern. Junior lawyers learned by doing the work no one else particularly wanted to do. … We are only a few years into the AI shift, and already the profession is changing. Recent LexisNexis research found that 65% of lawyers are now using paid legal AI tools, with many saying it helps them work faster. At the same time, 72% are concerned that junior lawyers using AI may struggle to develop deeper legal reasoning, judgement and argumentation. A further 69% worry about verification and source-checking skills. If AI is taking on the work junior lawyers once learned from, how do we make sure they still develop the judgement clients expect?” Read more here.
#9 “Uber Targets Litigation Funders in Rider, Driver Agreements” From Bloomberg Law: “Uber Technologies Inc. has moved to thwart lawsuits funded by outside investors by requiring customers and drivers who sue the company to disclose details of any such arrangements. The requirement, which Uber includes in contracts for drivers and in its app for customers, makes it harder for consumers and employees to find outside backing to sue the company, said Maria Glover, a Carmack Waterhouse professor of law at Georgetown University.” Read more here.
#10 “Emil Bove Defended Trump in Court. Then Trump Made Him a Judge.” From The New York Times: “Not long after Emil Joseph Bove III first donned the robe as a federal appeals court judge in September, one of his new colleagues was surprised upon catching a glimpse of the background image on his iPhone. It was the photo of Donald J. Trump, bloodied by a would-be assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pa., with one fist raised in the air. A former personal lawyer for Mr. Trump, Judge Bove is not the first jurist to hold on to a political memento or two from a past life. But the Butler photo, which was described by three people with knowledge of it, caused discomfort on the close-knit 14-seat appeals court for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. It touches on a central question about Judge Bove, who before joining the bench was known as an attack dog for Mr. Trump: whether his loyalty to the president might override his commitment to the rule of law.” Read more here (gift link).
Get Hired
Did you miss the 500+ job postings from previous weeks? Find them all here.
Upcoming Ethics Events & Other Announcements ️
Did you miss an announcement from previous weeks? Find them all here.
Keep in Touch
Do you have colleagues who care about legal ethics? Please share the Roundup with them. I’d love to see our community continue to grow!
News tips? Announcements? Events? A job to post? Reading recommendations? Email [email protected] – but be sure to subscribe first, otherwise the email won’t be delivered.
Renee Knake Jefferson holds the endowed Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics and is a Professor of Law at the University of Houston. Check out more of her writing at the Legal Ethics Roundup. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @reneeknake or Bluesky at legalethics.bsky.social.