Lawyers have increasingly turned to generative AI as a powerful productivity tool, but using AI introduces ethical risks. AI can help many attorneys produce work product better and faster, but only when used effectively, ethically, and within the Rules of Professional Conduct. You have probably heard about attorneys getting in serious trouble for filing AI-generated documents that are riddled with errors, but there are other significant risks. In coming years, the legal profession will become increasingly reliant on generative AI, and even attorneys who do not use it will need to be aware of its impact.
We will discuss the dangers, pitfalls, hazards, and benefits of AI within the child welfare arena, with a special emphasis on the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- To identify ethical challenges in the utilization of AI in child welfare cases
- To discuss how AI is pushing the legal profession
- To confront anxieties related to the prevalence of generative AI
- To identify ethically sound ways of implementing AI in a professional legal practice
Rebecca May-Ricks, JD, CWLS, Director, Mental Health Advocacy Service/Child Advocacy Program
Ms. May-Ricks is the Director of the Mental Health Advocacy Service/Child Advocacy Program. She represents children in abuse and neglect cases and/or mental health cases, while supervising other attorneys who do the same. She is a member of the Pelican Center Training Faculty, the Court Improvement Program’s CARE team, the CQI Committee, the Louisiana Bar Association’s Children Law Committee, and numerous other policy organizations, committees, subcommittees, and workgroups related to children and the law. Ms. May-Ricks is a Board-Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist by the National Association of Counsel for Children and serves as the NACC State Coordinator for Louisiana.
Richard Pittman, JD, CWLS, Assistant Professor, LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Richard M. Pittman is a certified Child Welfare Law Specialist and has been involved in child welfare law and policy since 2006. He is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he is tasked with preparing law students to enter the profession, and where he promotes public service. Prior to his appointment, he served as Deputy Public Defender and Director of Juvenile Defender Services in the Louisiana public defender system for 11 years. He is a co-reporter of the Children’s Code Committee of the Louisiana Law Institute, the Pelican Center Training and Education Committee, the CARE Committee, the Steering Committee of the ABA Parent Representation Project, and many others.
Aimee Self- Pittman, JD, MLIS, Associate Director of Instruction, Research, and Reference, Thurgood Marshall Law Library, University of Maryland
Aimee Self-Pittman is the Associate Director of Instruction, Research, and Reference at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Before becoming a law librarian, she worked as a VAWA grant attorney for Legal Services Alabama, where she represented survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in rural communities. She also served as library director at a small, rural public library in Alabama. Aimee teaches courses on legal research and law practice technology and is a collaborator on the Legal Profs AI Sandbox (https://sites.google.com/view/lwai/ home), a project focused on practical applications of generative AI in legal practice and education. She holds a BA from Centre College, a JD from the University of Alabama School of Law, and an MLIS from LSU.