the Zealous

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.
 

[G]iven the absence of binding authority, a Colorado lawyer must be cautious when deciding whether and in what fashion to respond to online criticism. For the lawyer wanting to err on the side of caution, the Pennsylvania Bar Association suggests the following language as a potential response:
 

"A lawyer’s duty to keep client confidences has few exceptions and in an abundance of caution I do not feel at liberty to respond in a point-by-point fashion in this forum. Suffice it to say that I do not believe that the post presents a fair and accurate picture of the events."

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Martin Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder of the School of Positive Psychology, which focuses on the attributes that produce success and happiness, has identified optimism as critical for both. In his book, Authentic Happiness (Free Press, 2002), Dr. Seligman reviewed his research on whether any personality attributes were consistently correlated to success in any of 104 careers he studied. Interestingly enough, the only career he found consistent correlations for was lawyering. And the attribute? Pessimism. Pessimism was so highly correlated with success in lawyers that the higher the pessimism in law students, the higher their grades.

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