CBA Record January-February 2026

THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

it supercharges both sides. One side can generate more hay; the other can find the needles faster. Your job is to keep the exercise bounded to what matters. In practice, if the other side’s “AI system” becomes the new magic word for a 30(b)(6) tour of their entire stack, push back hard on scope, custodians, and burden. If your client used a model to draft something important, preserve versions, prompts, and human edits. When in doubt, tie your asks and your limits to the claims, defenses, and proportionality factors you already know how to argue. Ethics, Fees, and Candor Ethics opinions aren’t thrilling, but they are stabilizing: Under stand the tech (competence), protect confidences (confidentiality), talk to your client about how you’ll use it (communication and consent), supervise outputs and the people who use AI (candor and supervision), and don’t game fees just because you discovered a speed multiplier (reasonableness). Remember to use Mata as your bright-line: don’t file fiction and continue to defend it. If you save 10 hours with a tool, don’t bill them. Charge for value and explain it. Clients are sophisticated. Many expect you to use AI, and they resent paying you not to. In-House Take: What General Counsel Actually Want They don’t want manifestos. They want more explainability. They want fewer errors and less cycle time, litigation, and regulatory risk. That means: l Document the workflow. Where did AI help? Where did a human review and decide? Keep this log; it will save you when challenged. l Segment the tasks. Use AI for first drafts, summaries, com parisons, and pattern-spotting; reserve nuanced judgment for

humans. That’s where the empirical gains are strongest. l Honor confidentiality. If you wouldn’t paste it into a public forum, don’t paste it into a public model. Use enterprise tools with retention controls or keep it air gapped. Where Does This Land? This lands exactly where social media discovery did. The “every thing or nothing” extremes will exhaust themselves; the middle will set. Courts are already signaling that ordinary duties govern, bans are overbroad, and disclosure, when required, is a proce dural convenience—not a scarlet letter. The Copyright Office and the D.C. Circuit have staked out a workable authorship baseline: If you want protection, contribute as a human and say what you did. The research points to meaningful productivity gains when we use the tools for the right problems and supervise the outputs. None of this is sci-fi. It’s normal, and it’s getting more normal by the month. In 2014, social media discovery felt like a revolution. Today, it’s a paragraph in a motion to compel and a few pages in a protective order. AI will end up there, too, turned from headline into footnote. The robots aren’t coming for your job; they’re coming for the legal practice’s inefficiencies. Your job is to let them.

Andrew P. Stevens is a Senior Corporate Counsel at G2.com, Inc. and an Adjunct Law Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law; he used generative AI tools in preparing this article, including OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 and Harvey.ai, consistent with ABA Formal Opinion 512’s guidance on competence, candor, and supervision.

The CBA Judicial Evaluation Committee is Looking for Members to Serve in its Investigation Division

The Judicial Evaluation Committee plays a vital role in maintaining a fair, competent, and ethical judiciary. Our investigators interview judges and judicial candidates, review professional histories, and help prepare evaluations that voters rely on to make informed decisions. All CBA members with 2+ years of legal experience are encouraged to apply to join the JEC. You will learn a great deal about the legal profession and expand your professional network while assisting in the JEC’s mission to improve the Cook County judiciary. All investigative work can be done over the phone. Applications are available for download at www.chicagobar.org. Please direct your questions

to Phyllis Lubinski at plubinski@chicagobar.org.

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