THE SIGNAL
In July 2024, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 512, its first formal opinion on lawyers’ use of generative AI. It says lawyers must “fully consider their applicable ethical obligations” and points to the Model Rules they already know.
Model Rule 1.1 on competence, including understanding the benefits and risks of the technology. Model Rule 1.6 on confidentiality, including when informed consent is needed. Model Rule 1.4 on communicating with clients about the means used. Model Rule 1.5 on reasonable fees.
BEFORE
Hypothetical: a litigation associate wants to use a firm-approved generative AI tool to summarize a client’s document production. Nobody is sure whether this client’s engagement terms require informed consent first. The question goes to the supervising partner, then to the general counsel’s office, then it waits.
The summary gets done by hand. The file is ready. The person who can release it is not.
WHAT THE WAIT COSTS
Hours pile up that a client may question under the fee rule. The same consent question gets answered differently on two matters down the hall. And each week of waiting teaches the team that asking is slower than not asking.
AFTER
The firm decides once, per tool and per matter type: what client information may go in, when informed consent is required, and who approves exceptions.
The associate’s request arrives with the engagement terms and the tool’s data handling attached. The named partner approves or declines the same day, and the answer is recorded for the next matter that looks like this one.
HOW WISDOMTWIN FITS
WisdomTwin.ai is building a sovereign judgment layer for regulated enterprises in banking, healthcare, legal, government, pharma and defense. It is designed to run inside your own environment, assemble the decision packet with the evidence attached, route it to the named person who holds the authority, and keep a record of who released the decision and why.
We don’t replace judgment. We remove the wait.
TRY THIS THIS WEEK
- List the generative AI tools in use and the matter types where client information could enter them.
- For each pair, write down who decides the consent question and how fast.
- Count how many requests waited more than one business day last month.
SOURCES
American Bar Association, ABA issues first ethics guidance on a lawyer’s use of AI tools (Formal Opinion 512), July 2024: https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/07/aba-issues-first-ethics-guidance-ai-tools/
Examples in this issue are hypothetical. WisdomTwin demonstrations use synthetic data, and nothing here describes a customer result.
Book a 20-minute call: https://calendly.com/romanbodnarchuk/20min
Roman Bodnarchuk, Co-Founder and CEO, WisdomTwin.ai