Alberta Lawyers Talk Generative AI

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools for legal work continue to increase in sophistication and potential applications, so do the descriptions of those tools.  Powerful.  Exciting.  Disconcerting.  A boon for access to justice.  A drain on precious water resources.  A revolution in legal services delivery.  Another tool in the competent lawyer’s toolbox.  GenAI is all these things. 

To fulfill their duties of technological competence (Law Society of Alberta Code of Conduct Rile 3.1-2 at paragraph 5), Alberta lawyers need to understand GenAI tools, carefully consider whether to implement them, and thoughtfully ensure appropriate protections when using a tool.  That’s easy to say (or write), not always as easy to do.  There is good news for lawyers looking into this challenge, including that this is not something they need to do alone.

Law Matters will be publishing a series of articles that share insights gained from community members’ experiences with investigating, implementing, and responding to the use of GenAI in their practices. We asked practitioners across a range of practice areas and contexts to answer six questions on GenAI in their practice.  Their responses were insightful, thought-provoking, and pragmatic.  We look forward to sharing them with you.

We extend our sincere thanks to the lawyers who answered the call to share a bit about GenAI in their practice as we help empower productive conversations for Alberta’s Legal Community. Denise Brunsdon, Codie Chisholm, Katrina Edgerton-McGhan, Dylan Snowdon, and Laura Warner provided perspectives from experienced civil litigators.  Jivanya Reddy and Marcus Sixta offered important insights from their exploration of GenAI in the practice of family law. Adam Drew, KC, shared lessons from experience with GenAI in-house as a crown prosecutor.  Jenna Weinkauf offered insights gained in her real estate and corporate practice at a large firm.  Ryan Robertson added important perspective from a Calgary and Okotoks firm focused on business, real estate, and related legal matters. We are also fortunate to include the perspective of Jennifer Hawkins, whose practice as a neutral investigator, mediator, and trainer afforded some additional opportunities for reflection on the intersection of AI with legal practice. 

We appreciate the time these lawyers took to reflect on AI use in their practice and put fingers to the keyboard to answer our questions.  We’re confident this series will be helpful to lawyers navigating questions on AI use, and it would not have been possible without these contributing counsel.

Here are the questions we asked our contributors to respond to:

1. How are you using AI in your practice?
2. What do you see as the greatest benefit of AI so far?
3. How have you applied safeguards to ensure accuracy and mitigate risks in using AI tools?
4. What have you learned from your engagement with AI tools?
5. How are your clients using AI tools?  How has that affected your practice?
6. Where else has AI intersected with your legal work?

Over the next 6 weeks we’ll publish the collected answers to each of the questions, one question at a time.  We begin with how the lawyers are using GenAI in their practices.  In some cases, the answer is they are not and the reasons for that are an important part of the conversation too.

Whether you have been using GenAI in your practice for some time, are just beginning to explore the possibilities of GenAI, or are assiduously avoiding the risks of incorporating GenAI, this series provides useful insights to increase your awareness of GenAI uses and risks, as well as other ways it can impact your practice.