List the risks of a client using a public tool on a family file
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- Turn Opinion 512 and the California 2026 generative-AI guidance into a checklist of risks: confidentiality, invented citations, and a tool that gives the client legal advice. Write no letter and no advice to the client.
- What the lawyer must review
- You write anything the client receives. Opinion 512 requires competence, confidentiality, and a check of the tool's output, and it warns against putting client information into a tool that discloses it outside the firm. The California 2026 guidance says an agentic system must not make substantive legal determinations without meaningful lawyer supervision, and that candor cannot be delegated. Family Code § 2100 still requires a full disclosure. A client's own draft does not satisfy that duty until you have checked it.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Potential support includes identifying points for review. Confirm the tool’s capability and permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Confirm that the actual tool, feature and processing terms permit use of this information, including access, retention, training and disclosure conditions.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.