In an now annual tradition at the Brooklyn Bar Association, attorney Kaylin Whittingham provided her “2023 Year in Review” continuing education seminar on Wednesday, Feb. 7, where she discussed noteworthy ethics decisions and opinions that were published in New York over the past year.
This year’s discussion provided an in-depth exploration of pressing ethical considerations in the era of advancing technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Whittingham, a former New York State Commissioner on Ethics and Lobbying in Government and a referee for the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, is a known expert of the ethical dilemmas facing today’s legal professionals.
Her practice at Whittingham Law focuses on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility, drawing from her background as counsel at the Attorney Grievance Committee, First Judicial Department, where she investigated and prosecuted a broad spectrum of professional misconduct cases.
The CLE session tackled various topics, not just AI, including the management of escrow accounts, navigating conflicts of interest, understanding fee structures, and addressing issues such as “little white lies,” false filings, CLE violations, and the unauthorized practice of law.
Special attention was given to the implications of AI in court reporting and captioning, highlighted by recent cases like Mata v Avianca, where an attorney inappropriately used ChatGPT to create non-existent judicial opinions.
Another trial, U.S. v Michel, revealed the risks of relying on AI for crucial tasks like crafting closing arguments. In this case, an attorney relied on AI and their presentation was filled with frivolous arguments.
In response to these increasingly common problems, the California Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct issued AI Guidelines, cautioning against overreliance on AI tools in legal practice. The guidelines state that lawyers must apply their trained judgment to check the…
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