Harnessing AI to Enhance Your Legal Practice

AI for Lawyers: Best Applications, Practices, and Considerations

- CLE MATERIALS



Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming legal practice, offering tools to research, draft, and automate with unprecedented speed. A 2024 industry survey by Law Next found AI usage by legal professionals jumped from 19% to 79% in one year​, signaling that attorneys must understand these technologies. This CLE course is designed for lawyers with minimal prior AI knowledge, and will introduce key AI concepts gradually while focusing on practical applications in daily legal work. Participants will see live demonstrations of AI tools and learn best practices for ethical and effective use.

Learning Objectives:
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• Explain what AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) are, in plain terms, and learn how to harness them effectively with prompt engineering.
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• Identify leading AI models (e.g., o1Pro, o3, DeepSeek, GPT-4o, Gemini, etc.) and compare their strengths, weaknesses, and costs for legal applications.
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• Overview on best prompt engineering practices, breaking down the anatomy of a good prompt, constructing a prompt for your use case.
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• Apply AI in legal workflows through guided demonstrations – including case law research, contract review, document drafting, and client communication – to save time and improve efficiency.
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• Recognize the ethical considerations of using AI under the ABA/Georgia Bar Rules and state ethics opinions, and implement appropriate attorney oversight (e.g. verifying AI outputs, protecting client confidentiality).
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• Formulate a strategy for integrating AI into their practice (firm-wide or solo), including evaluating cost-benefit, ensuring data security, training staff, and overcoming common adoption challenges.