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Lawyers have ‘inbuilt desire’ to behave ethically

Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell has told an International Bar Association (IBA) conference on professional ethics (27-28 June) that lawyers had an “inbuilt desire” to behave ethically, but that this also needed to be reinforced.

Attendees also heard warnings on the limitations of artificial intelligence (AI), during a panel discussion on the technology’s implications for professional ethics.

The two-day event is being held at the Law Society in Blackhall Place in Dublin, where attendees were welcomed by Law Society President Barry MacCarthy.

Pressures on profession

Describing the topic as “more urgent than it has ever been”, the Chief Justice said that the legal profession was facing competitive, technological, and external pressures, adding that lawyers were “high on the target list” for populist criticism, particularly on social media.

Referring to the Post Office scandal in Britain, he quoted Prof Richard Moorhead of Exeter University Law School, who said that the controversy might be symptomatic of broader issues in the legal profession “where adversarial partnership trumps justice”.

He said the competitive market in legal services might be contributing to this situation.

Chief Justice O’Donnell stressed the need to provide a strong counterbalance to economic forces, adding that ethical lawyers should not be at a disadvantage.

He stated that most lawyers had an “inbuilt desire” to behave ethically, but this needed reinforcement, though both education, on the one hand, and rigorous enforcement of disciplinary codes on the other.

“Lawyers tend to be people who join queues, rather than jump them,” he said, adding that instinctively, lawyers believe in rules.

‘Double-check AI’

The conference began with a panel discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) and professional ethics that included an outline of current developments in the field from Colin Jarvis (chief architect, Open AI) and the Government’s AI Ambassador Patricia Scanlon.

Massimo Sterpi (Gianni & Origoni, Rome) described ethics as “a slippery and fluid concept”. In terms of AI, however, he said that the new ‘ethic’ was to “always double-check AI”, as responses from generative AI were “always plausible, but not always true”.

“Can we rely on something that doesn’t understand what we asked, and is just putting together, nicely, words that look plausible?” he asked.

The lawyer told delegates that, while AI was useful in areas such as summarisation and translation, but less so for due diligence.

Experience

Sterpi outlined his view that AI would lead to a different balance between manpower and high skills, with a need for fewer trainees and associates, but there would still be a space for experienced highly skilled lawyers, particularly for checking AI responses.

He also believes that AI could reduce the resources gap between larger and smaller firms, as AI would reduce the need for high numbers of staff in some areas.

Nazar Chernyasky (co-chair, IBA Technology Law Committee) said that senior lawyers might spend more time on quality control and training young lawyers as a result of AI’s impact.

Brian McElligott (Mason Hayes & Curran) stressed the importance of lawyers’ role as owners and users of AI technology, telling the event that, ultimately, people would look to lawyers to use their skills and experience to make their own decisions.