BUSINESS LAW SECTION’S AI TASK FORCE HELPS LAWYERS NAVIGATE A RAPIDLY CHANGING LANDSCAPE

The section has launched The AI Advantage, a biweekly newsletter

Business lawyers know artificial intelligence is changing how businesses operate, how lawyers serve clients, how law firms structure their practices, and how courts approach emerging legal questions, and they want to be able to lead their clients and practices in this changing environment, says James Moon, chair of the Business Law Section’s AI Task Force.

“AI is touching every aspect of what we do as attorneys,” Moon said. “Whether it’s dealing with our clients, whether it’s dealing with the effect on the business model of law firms and businesses — it has to do with regulatory issues, it has to do with environmental concerns. All of that touches on law. All of that touches on regulation.”

Section Chair Peter Valori prioritized artificial intelligence as a key issue for the section when he took over in July, creating the AI Task Force and appointing Moon, a partner at Meland Budwick in Miami, to lead it. The objective is to help Florida business lawyers understand the evolving legal, business, and societal implications of AI and remain prepared as the technology continues to develop.

The task force’s work includes:

• Monitoring legislative, regulatory, and judicial developments involving artificial intelligence.

• Developing practical resources to assist lawyers in understanding and responsibly using AI.

• Coordinating educational programming and promoting discussion of emerging AI issues.

• Building relationships with courts, universities, bar organizations, industry leaders, and other stakeholders.

• Examining AI’s impact on business, governance, the legal profession, and society.

For Moon, one of the biggest challenges presented by AI is the volume and speed of developments.

“If you were to look at any given day with respect to headlines coming out in the IT and technology sectors, they might as well just be IT and law,” he said. “Legal issues abound.”

Courts are confronting questions created by AI’s impacts on society and legislators and regulators are grappling with ramifications and protections, while businesses are incorporating AI into their operations at an accelerating pace. The result, Moon said, can feel like “trying to drink from a fire hydrant.”

The task force’s role is to help lawyers make sense of it, curating the deluge of AI information to focus on what’s particularly important to Florida’s business lawyers, Moon said.

That effort already has begun. Following its first meeting, the task force launched The AI Advantage, a biweekly newsletter to help members stay ahead of developments.

Moon said AI raises fundamental questions about the business model of practicing law, including how lawyers bill and how firms measure the value of services.

If a task that once took a lawyer 10 hours can be completed in a fraction of that time with AI assistance, for example, the traditional billable-hour model may become more difficult to apply.

“You can’t bill your client for what used to be 10 hours of work if it doesn’t take you that [long],” Moon said. “It’s unethical.”

Attorney-client privilege is also in play, with clients running documents given to them by their lawyers through ChatGPT to see if they can get better answers and providing lawyers with AI responses clients obtain independently using their personal data patterns.

“Courts are having to determine whether that's either attorney-client privileged material or is it work product,” he said. “And of course, it all depends on at what level the lawyer is involved with it.”

Regulation is another hot topic. Some states are attempting to legislate what AI can provide, following court cases like a recent high-profile case about a teenager who was assisted by ChatGPT in committing suicide, said Moon.

Moon pointed to California as one example of a jurisdiction where significant AI-related legislation is emerging. But Florida has a particular interest in the issue, he said, given the state’s growing business and technology sectors.

“There’s a lot coming down from New York,” Moon said. “There are a lot of different initiatives. The business environment in Florida is something that we want to encourage, and we want people to understand that we’re at the forefront of these issues.”

At the same time, AI can create new opportunities for lawyers to provide value to clients. Business lawyers increasingly may find themselves advising clients not simply about existing legal requirements, but about how AI affects corporate operations, governance, risk management, and compliance.

That can involve questions ranging from how a company uses AI to how it supervises AI-driven decision-making, he says.

Consider an AI system used to make decisions about whether an individual receives medical care. Such systems already exist, Moon noted. When an individual is denied care based on an AI-generated determination rather than a decision made directly by a person, a host of legal questions can follow.

Who is responsible for the decision? What standards govern the system? What information was used to reach the decision? What rights does the affected individual have? And what remedies are available?

For business lawyers, Moon said those questions illustrate why understanding AI requires more than understanding the technology itself.

Moon said the Task Force plans to survey section members to learn how lawyers and businesses currently use AI, the problems they encounter, and the regulatory landscape governing particular applications to identify common uses, emerging risks, and areas where lawyers need additional guidance or education.

Moon emphasized the Business Law Section does not intend to address these issues alone.

The Task Force plans to coordinate with The Florida Bar’s broader AI initiatives and work collaboratively with courts, universities, bar organizations, industry representatives, and other stakeholders.

“We want to work together, cooperatively, so that we make the best environment for business lawyers,” Moon said.

“Everything that we do in the Business Law Section is making the environment, whether it’s in the legal sphere or in the legislation sphere, easier and better for people to actually do business and make money in Florida,” Moon said.

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