August 2021

In the TV series Goliath (Amazon Prime), Billy Bob Thornton plays Billy McBride, a badass but disgraced trial lawyer excommunicated from the massive firm that he founded. The show is about how Billy plots his attempt at redemption and revenge.

There's a scene in which Billy is prepping a deponent, his own witness, and conveys his five rules for depositions:

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.

In the majority of US states, a lawyer's duty of competence includes an obligation to be up on the latest technologies.