Responsible AI for Lawyers: Ethical Limits, Judicial Scrutiny, and the Risks Attorneys Can’t Ignore (2026 Edition)

Jeffrey Cunningham | Cohen Vaughan

Jeff actively defends lawyers and acts as outside General Counsel to small and mid-sized law firms across the United States, while also serving as this firm’s General Counsel. Jeff defends industry professionals in a wide range of professional liability, ethics and professional disciplinary matters. With an emphasis on simple systems of risk management, Jeff brings a holistic approach of protecting our clients before problems occur.

Jeff has an audience of over 30,000 followers on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. He produces a weekly newsletter on ethics and malpractice, a monthly law firm risk management newsletter and daily blog, Point One: A Bite of Ethics a Day Keeps Legal Malpractice Claims Away, as well as the world’s only ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct-based meme page, The Model-Rule-Meme-A-Day. A life-long learner and teacher, Jeff presents dozens of Continuing Legal Education courses per year on varying topics of law firm risk management and ethics.

A graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Jeff prepared for his legal practice serving as a Cadet Second Lieutenant/Platoon Leader, the First Battalion Honor Court Representative, and the Editor-in-Chief of The Brigadier newspaper.

Jeff is a Fulbright Scholar, and nurtured his love of travel and languages during his Fulbright fellowship in Germany. He also traveled extensively before and after school, relying on his fluency in German, Yiddish, and Hebrew and studying the law across Europe and in Israel.

At Fordham Law, Jeff was an Associate Editor of the Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law and earned the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award magna cum laude for pro bono work. He also gained valuable early litigation experience as a legal intern with the Queens District Attorney’s Office and the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York Criminal Division.

Jeff has 15 years of large firm experience and defends professional liability cases on behalf of lawyers, law firms, and a myriad of other professionals. He also serves as outside General Counsel to numerous small and mid-sized law firms.

Matthew H. Grady | Wolf Greenfield & Sacks

Matthew Grady brings significant industry experience in computer sciences to his practice. Clients both large and small turn to Matthew for tailored, strategic solutions that focus on valuable business goals and assets. He guides clients through the development of effective intellectual property-building strategies incorporating utility patents, design patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Matthew works extensively in the US and foreign jurisdictions protecting innovation in the fields of artificial intelligence, encryption, authentication, database design, implementation, and optimization, as well as web-based services and augmentation (Web3.0). He has also developed IP strategies in cryptocurrency, blockchain technologies, medical imaging and devices, bioinformatics, communication systems, cloud computing, and application development and advises clients in quantum computing.

Matthew serves as the firm’s AI Task Force Lead, helping shape guidance and best practices around emerging AI technologies.

Matthew is a founding member of The Ordinary Observer® (for which he registered the trademark), a weekly blog dedicated to the interesting and evolving world of design patents.

Session I – How Attorneys Are Using AI: Practical Tools, Ethical Guardrails, & Judicial Expectations | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Practical use by lawyers now
• Ethics rules and risk management
• Disclosure duties and transparency
• Judicial treatment and danger

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Generative AI and the Practice of Law: Practical Uses, Limits, and Strategic Adoption | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Review of generative AI and how lawyers are currently using it in legal research, drafting, summarization, and document review
• Strengths and limitations of GenAI for law practice, including reliability concerns, hallucinations, and the need for human oversight
• Categories of AI tools available to attorneys, including public vs. enterprise platforms and practice-focused legal AI solutions
• Practical considerations for integrating GenAI into law firm workflows, training, and internal knowledge management
• Common pitfalls and adoption challenges law firms encounter when deploying GenAI tools
• Client expectations, competitive pressures, and the evolving role of lawyers in an AI-enabled legal marketplace