CBA Record November-December 2025

THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

“reasonable inquiry” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(g) in discovery for a trademark infringement case are yet to be determined—since an AI tool could conceivably produce any information in seconds by mere prompt. Risks and Consequences Of course, legal practice, like any other industry, must keep up with the times. But, as lawyers, we are trained to evaluate and consider risk, and we are held to a high standard: We must safeguard obligations to our clients, to society, and to ourselves. Accordingly, using AI warrants careful consideration of its risks and consequences.

AI-generated language) is often more powerful and can strengthen connections with the clients who presumably chose them for that unique voice. Moreover, there can be no AI short cut to the skills and intuitions developed through hands-on legal writing, research, and analytical experience. Otherwise, why would a client hire a lawyer for something that they can “AI-oogle” themselves? Power Multiplied A lawyer may ask: “With all this AI capability, will lawyers stay relevant in the future?” The answer is still a resound ing yes—and more than ever. Five years from

Duties to Our Clients. As lawyers, we must be mindful of our strict client

now, AI will be faster, more intuitive, and deeply embedded in legal workflows, with scale and force unmatched

duties, such as safeguarding con fidentiality and attorney-client privilege or zealously repre senting and advocating for

in human history. The analyti cal and predictive power of AI may be used in many ways in legal practice, such as moni toring brand usage globally, forecasting intellectual property value fluctua tions, and detecting cur rent or future intellectual property infringement threats in real time, and many others.

our clients. We must there fore ensure that our AI use appropriately serves our clients. For example, presenting AI-generated content as actual attorney work product and with out the proper disclosures can violate several ethical rules. More subtly, however, lawyers must competently supervise sensitive client infor mation in the AI ether and must also understand the less obvious limitations and risks. For instance, we must consider how our responsibilities in due diligence, pleadings, discovery, and contracting may

Despite their vast utility, though, these technologies will still require humans to drive strategy, to implement ethics, and to judge—not just to code. Without experienced oversight, an AI tool could mistake legitimate competition for infringe ment or miss emerging market opportunities entirely. Likewise, these technologies offer no replacement for the human aspects of practice. In a future certain to be permeated by tech nology, lawyers will remain the caretakers of the very human attorney-client relationship.

change with the vast power and reach of AI at our disposal. Integrity . Lawyers form an integral part of society. We are con sidered officers of the court, tasked with upholding the integrity of the legal process. We also work to shape societal norms, legal precedents, and public policy, and we often serve as both advo cates for individual rights and protectors of the public interest. Oftentimes, what is at issue can be visceral, deeply personal mat ters that require a human touch, which AI technology cannot— and arguably should not—replace. Public Perception. AI use can risk diminishing public percep tion of the skills we have worked so diligently to obtain. When we use AI, we are effectively teaching it to replicate our work. That is, the content produced by generative AI’s large language models presents an amalgam of the vast data inputs used to train them. While lawyers are also trained to conform to legal writing rules, preserving their unique voice (rather than using

Ion C. Moraru is a registered patent practitioner working in-house at an advanced energy company.

CBA RECORD 29