the Zealous

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Paul Farrell, Jr. was looking through the West Virginia Code a few years ago when he came across a statute saying a county has the legal right to abate a “public nuisance.” Typically, that would mean things like trash heaps in someone’s front yard.

But Farrell decided it might also describe prescription opioids.

Farrell is a small-city lawyer in a place often described as the epicenter of the opioid crisis. His hometown has been flooded by pills — “a tsunami,” he says. A thousand people have died of drug overdoses here in less than two decades.

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Just as lawyers can over-delegate work to subordinates, they can also under-delegate, causing them to serve their clients less efficiently. In the context of artificial intelligence, one can imagine underutilization of AI – for example, a lawyer not using AI even though it could help that lawyer serve the client better.

In fact, given some of the psychological attributes commonly associated with lawyers – a focus on detail, a desire for control, an aversion to risk – the greater danger might very well be underutilization of, rather than overreliance upon, artificial intelligence.

A friendly reminder: in the majority of US states, a lawyer's duty of competence includes an obligation to be up on the latest tech.