On 4 August 2026, IAPP Vice President and Chief Knowledge Officer Caitlin Fennessy and ZwillGen Director of the AI Division Brenda Leong held a LinkedIn Live event examining how AI is reshaping ethical duties for lawyers and legal professionals. The discussion covered client consent, confidentiality, supervision of AI tools, and the need for verification of AI-generated work product. For legal practitioners, the session underscored that existing professional responsibility rules apply to AI use, even as the technology introduces new complexities.
Fennessy and Leong walked through core obligations from model rules of professional conduct, focusing on where AI raises questions. They addressed when lawyers must obtain informed consent from clients before using AI, how to protect confidential information when using cloud-based or third-party AI services, and what level of human review is needed to satisfy the duty of supervision. The speakers emphasised that lawyers cannot delegate ethical judgment to a machine and must verify outputs for accuracy and bias.
Client consent and confidentiality
A central theme was the obligation to explain to clients how AI is being used in their matter. Leong said that transparency around AI tools is not optional-it is a matter of informed consent and trust. The panel also warned that uploading case documents to public AI platforms could waive privilege, so legal teams must vet the data handling and security policies of any AI tool they adopt.
Supervision and verification
The duty to supervise extends to the use of AI, even if the tool performs tasks traditionally done by paralegals or junior associates. Lawyers must ensure that anyone-human or machine-producing legal work is adequately reviewed. Training staff on appropriate AI use is part of that supervision. For firms and legal departments looking to build those skills, resources such as an AI Learning Path for Paralegals can provide targeted instruction on automated document review and legal research, areas where verification is critical.
Why this matters for legal professionals
The session made clear that bar associations and regulators are actively watching how AI is used in practice. Lawyers who rely on AI without understanding its limitations risk ethics complaints, malpractice claims, and loss of client trust. Legal professionals should treat AI governance not as a tech issue, but as a core part of their professional responsibility-equivalent to any other risk management system.
For those seeking a broader overview of obligations and best practices, the AI for Legal resource hub covers ethical compliance, supervision standards, and practical guardrails for using generative AI in a law practice.
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