JAMBAR urged to train attorneys on appropriate use of AI

 

The Jamaican Bar Association is being urged to facilitate training for attorneys on the appropriate uses of artificial intelligence in case preparation out of concern that they could inadvertently commit a breach of the profession's legal standards. 

 

The suggestion put forward by attorney Hodine Williams has been influenced in part by a case out of neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago. 

 

In his ruling last week, High Court judge Justice Westman James referred two attorneys to the disciplinary committee of the law association after uncovering multiple fictitious legal authorities cited in court submissions in a lawsuit. 

 

One of the attorneys denied using any AI generated tools and accepted full responsibility for the oversight, citing heavy case loads and inadequate supervision of the inclusion of inaccurate and misattributed citations. 

 

But Justice James said while digital tools including AI and internet-based platforms were increasingly common and valuable in legal research, their use must be accompanied by discernment and subjected to rigorous verification. 

 

Speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Mr. Williams said the use of AI or search engines by attorneys does not remove their responsibility to corroborate the results generated. 

 

"You have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb, you have to review it. What it can do is make your job a lot easier in terms of analysing several cases or to summarise them etc. So it's your intelligence that you're using and not only the machine. The machine is an aid to make your work easier, so at the end of the day, you have to make sure that it is your output," he suggested.  

 

Mr. Williams said local attorneys using artificial intelligence in preparing for matters should be educated on the repercussions. 

 

"I believe a lot of persons are using AI but they don't know the consequences, they don't know the thinking behind it, they don't know how it processes information and I believe that's why attorneys are getting into trouble. But the Bar Association could facilitate the ethical use of AI, how to approach it, how to teach persons, how it thinks, what are the pitfalls, privacy issues."

 

In the meantime, former president of the Jamaican Bar Association Emile Leiba, has cautioned his colleagues against improper use of artificial intelligence, for fear of bringing the profession into disrepute. He said it could result in judges forming the view that they have to verify all the information presented by attorneys. 

 

Another drawback, Mr. Leiba said, is that clients could be misled, especially in matters that are not interrogated in court. 

 

"So when it is that you present something as being fact and it is in fact fiction, that has serious implications both for your own individual credibility and as well as because it could well be, for example, that it doesn't actually get to court, it's your client that you are advising. You go, you access an AI tool and you provide a client with legal advice based on that AI tool. It doesn't go to court, it doesn't get analysed, the client doesn't necessarily have the ability to confirm whether it's real or not, makes some decisions and then ends up in trouble with the law, because you gave them bad advice," he warned.