The ChatGPT Lawyer: Opportunities and Risks of Generative AI for the Legal

Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT—an AI-empowered chatbot—has garnered significant public attention. ChatGPT has been hailed by the New York Times as "quite simply, the best artificial intelligence chatbot ever released to the general public." Within days of its release, ChatGPT registered a million users and now reports more than 10 million unique users each day – setting the record for fastest-growing user base in history.

Since, conversations have emerged about the implications of ChatGPT for a number of industries and sectors, including journalism, education, computer engineering, and the legal profession.

This conversation will focus particularly on the opportunities and risk posed by ChatGPT, and more generally generative AI, in the legal sector. What should lawyers know about this tool? How might it be used in legal practice? What are the implications vis-a-vis lawyers' ethical obligation to be technologically competent? What are the opportunities and risks for access to justice?

Ce programme contient 1 heure de professionnalisme.

Cette organisation a été approuvée comme fournisseur agréé de contenu de professionnalisme par le Barreau de l’Ontario.

This program contains 1 Professionalism hours.

This organization has been approved as an Accredited Provider of Professionalism Content by the Law Society of Ontario.

À propos des panélistes | About the Speakers

Dr. Amy Salyzyn is a an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa, and a Faculty member at Center for Law, Technology and Society. Dr. Amy Salyzyn is an expert in the area of legal ethics, lawyer regulation, the use of technology in the delivery of legal services and access to justice. At the University of Ottawa, she teaches Torts as well as Dispute Resolution and Professional Responsibility in the first year program. She also teaches an upper year seminar in legal ethics.

Daniel W. Linna Jr. has a joint appointment at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and McCormick School of Engineering as a Senior Lecturer and the Director of Law and Technology Initiatives. Dan’s teaching and research focus on innovation and technology, including computational law, artificial intelligence, data analytics, leadership, operations, and innovation frameworks. Dan is also an affiliated faculty member at CodeX — The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics. Dan received his BA from the University of Michigan, received a second BA and an MA in public policy and administration from Michigan State University, and graduated magna cum laude, Order of the Coif from the University of Michigan Law School. Dan began his legal career with a one-year judicial clerkship for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James L. Ryan. After his clerkship, he joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, where he was elected equity partner in 2013. Before law school, Dan was an information technology manager, developer, and consultant.

Colin Lachance veered into a career in legal information and tech shortly after beginning his part-time University of Ottawa studies toward an LL.M. with concentration in Law and Technology. Roles since 2011 included 4 years as CEO of CanLII, a couple years on the executive committee of global legal publisher vLex, a bunch of legal tech advisory work, operating a legal data non-profit and more recently building a legal AI startup, Jurisage, as a joint venture with leading Canadian applied AI studio, AltaML.

Ryan Fritsch is counsel with the Law Commission of Ontario. He leads law reform projects including AI in the Criminal Justice system, modernized consumer protection in the digital marketplace, and Indigenous approaches to health law reform. Prior to joining the LCO Ryan was legal counsel at the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office and led Legal Aid Ontario’s Mental Health Strategy.

Modérateur | Moderator

Nye Thomas is the Executive Director of the Law Commission of Ontario. Nye currently leading LCO projects on AI in the justice system, consumer protection, protection orders, and environmental accountability. Prior to this, Nye was Director General, Policy at Legal Aid Ontario where he was responsible for policy, consultations, and planning at one of the world’s largest legal aid plans. Nye has also been Policy Director on major provincial inquiries, including the Ipperwash Inquiry.

Cet évènement sera en virtuel. Cet événement est gratuit et public. Néanmoins, l'inscription est obligatoire. Cet événement sera en anglais seulement. Cet événement sera enregistré et des photos pourraient être prises.

This event will be virtual. This is a free event, open to everyone. However, registration is required. This event will be in English only. The event will be recorded, and photos may be taken.

Cet événement est présenté par l’Initiative IA + Société, la Commission du droit de l’Ontario et la Série de conférences Conway sur le professionalisme, en collaboration avec le Centre de recherche en droit, technologie et société

This event is presented by the AI + Society Initiative, the Law Commission of Ontario, and the Conway Professionalism Speaker Series, in collaboration with the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society