Date of Submission

5-3-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Legal Studies

Advisor

Karen Redlich, J.D.

Keywords

AI, ABA Ethical guidelines, Legal Rules of Professional Conduct, AI-Related Court Cases, Continuing Legal Education, Ethical AI use in Legal Work

LCSH

Artificial intelligence, Professions--Law and legislation, Courts--United States—Cases, Artificial intelligence--Legal applications, Law--Study and teaching (Continuing education)

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is a quickly growing industry that is beginning to integrate itself into various aspects of our lives. Regarding the legal portion, the American Bar Association has an extensive set of ethical guidelines which, although they themselves do not hold any disciplinary weight, have been adapted to many state grievance committees where sanctions can be imposed. The use of AI in the legal field has introduced a whole new set of ethical concerns, which the already existing rules of professional conduct must now adapt to. Looking at the ABA’s ethical rules 1.1: Competency, 1.3: Diligence, 1.5: Fees, 1.6: Confidentiality, 3.3: Candor to the Tribunal, and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 11: Representations to the Court, the goal of this thesis is to examine how each rule is applied to four different AI related cases and see how the court’s ruling in each dictates how AI can properly be used in legal work going forward. Additionally, continuing legal education (CLE) is an obligation each attorney has after their graduation from law school where either annually or bi-annually they complete a certain number of credit hours based on the state they practice in. With artificial intelligence being such a new topic of discussion, I am proposing an asynchronous six-component program that attorneys can choose to participate in for their CLE requirement which would educate them on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in the legal profession.

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