To ensure clients are protected, lawyers using generative artificial intelligence tools must fully consider their applicable ethical obligations, including their duties to provide competent legal representation, to protect client information, to communicate with clients, to supervise their employees and agents, to advance only meritorious claims and contentions, to ensure candor toward the tribunal, and to charge reasonable fees.
Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility
The American Bar Association’s Formal Opinion 512 provides clear guidance on how attorneys may responsibly use generative AI. It does not prohibit AI. Instead, it defines strict professional duties that any legal technology must support.
For legal-tech platforms, this opinion is not optional reading. It is a design requirement.
ABA Opinion 512 identifies six core compliance areas. Below is a practical breakdown of those areas, followed by how the Meritocrat platform is designed to align with each obligation.
Attorneys must understand the benefits, risks, limitations, and accuracy of any AI tool they use. AI cannot replace legal judgment, and its output must always be verified.
Meritocrat is built to support attorney competence, not shortcut it.
The platform is intentionally designed to require attorney interpretation at every stage.
Lawyers must protect client information and understand how data is stored, processed, and used by AI systems.
Meritocrat follows a strict non-self-learning architecture.
This directly addresses confidentiality risks highlighted in ABA Opinion 512.
If AI affects cost, strategy, or material decisions, attorneys must disclose its use and maintain independent judgment.
Meritocrat supports transparency by design.
This allows firms to meet Rule 1.4 duties regarding informed client communication.
Any AI-assisted content used in filings must be accurate, supported, and fully reviewed. Hallucinated citations or unsupported claims are unacceptable.
Meritocrat does not generate filings.
This significantly reduces litigation integrity risks.
Law firms must supervise lawyers, staff, and third-party vendors using AI, and ensure confidentiality and security standards are met.
Meritocrat supports firm-level oversight.
This aligns with supervisory obligations under Rules 5.1 and 5.3.
When AI increases efficiency, attorneys must ensure fees remain reasonable and are not inflated.
Meritocrat helps firms demonstrate fairness.
This supports ethical billing practices when AI reduces workload.
Meritocrat aligns with ABA Formal Opinion 512 at the design, architecture, and workflow levels.
Meritocrat is not a shortcut to legal conclusions. It is a structured workspace that helps attorneys evaluate merit responsibly, ethically, and in full alignment with professional obligations.