CBA Record November-December 2025

By Sharon Nolan, CBA Marketing Director C BA President Judge Nichole C. Patton’s 2025-2026 proj ect, AI 2035: The Legal Profession and the Judiciary in the Age of Artificial Intelligence , is off and running with 10 AI focused CLE sessions that began meeting in September. This series dives deep into one of the most critical issues facing our profession, with expert-led sessions that go far beyond sur face-level discussions. Members are invited to join any of the 10 committees to receive email notice of future meetings. View a list and sign up at www.chicagobar.org/AI2035Committees . Past educational sessions are available on demand at Learn.Chica goBar.org (please note archived versions of committee meetings do not receive IL MCLE credit) – enter “AI” into the search bar for a list of future and past meetings. AI and the Billable Hour: Pricing Models for a New Era The AI and Law Firm Economics Committee discussed how AI is changing the billable hour. Panelists included Debra Baker, GrowthPlay; Mathew Kerbis, Subscription Attorney LLC; Amanda Carey, Carey Center for Justice; and Daniel Berkow tiz, Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston & Zimet LLP (moderator). Conversation focused on how AI can affect a law practice in a positive way to reduce the amount of time spent on mundane tasks to make attorneys more valuable to clients while moving away from the billable hour pricing model. Here are some key takeaways: l When considering moving away from the billable hour, examine how AI can help you spend less time on adminis trative and lower-value work. Figure out how to charge for high-quality, high-value work in a different way. Explore purpose-built AI tools for the legal industry (Paxton and Google Notebook LM were mentioned) to help address pain points. l Subject matter experts are going to become even more valu able. Be a trusted advisor and help clients understand AI curated content and be proactive in supporting your client’s business strategies. l Your value should be based on solving your client’s problems, not on how long it took you to solve the problem. Assess your value to the solution you are providing the client, not how many hours you can invoice. l Firms transitioning away from the billable hour should

consider piloting a test group and give employees the oppor tunity to be creative in solving issues with AI. Firm leaders need to enable employees to try alternative billing methods. Consider using KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to assess employee worth, not how many hours are billed. AI’s Transformation of Legal Research The AI and Legal Research and Writing Committee explored how AI is transforming legal research. Panelists included Profes sor Kimberly Ricardo, UIC Law; Frank Young, Librarian, Louis L. Biro Law Library, UIC Law; Anthony M. Sam, Cunningham, Meyer & Vedrine (moderator); Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Allen Walker (moderator); Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Megan Goldish (moderator); and Illinois Appellate Court Justice Rena Van Tine (moderator). Ricardo and Young provided an overview that included examples of generative AI, including how different types of generative AI are trained and make deci sions. Panelists also looked at issues such as bias, fairness, and ethical considerations. Some of the pitfalls of AI research, includ ing hallucinations or inaccurate responses, were covered as well. A few takeaways include: l AI can strengthen research by rapidly analyzing large vol umes of legal text, identifying precedents, and providing analytics for litigation and case strategy. Regardless of the tool, the person using AI is always responsible for the accu racy of the final product. See In re Baby Boy and A.H., 2025 IL App (4th) 241427; Mata v. Avianca, Inc., No. 22-CV 1461 (PKC), 2023 WL 4114965 (S.D.N.Y. June 22, 2023). l One option for checking citations is Google Scholar (there are others). l AI is rooted in natural language. When starting your search using natural language, moving to Boolean language (i.e., using connectors like AND, OR, NOT, etc.) can broaden or further refine your search. l When drafting briefs or conducting legal research, take care to remove identifying client-specific information and con sider courtroom-specific and professional responsibility poli cies for your jurisdiction ( See ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility Formal Op. 512, 2024). l Also consider informed client consent and transparency in billing when using AI for research.

10 November/December 2025