New York State Bar Association Adopts AI Ethics Guidelines

New York State Bar Association announced on its website that its House of Delegates adopted the report "Legal Ethics Guidelines for Lawyers' Use of Artificial Intelligence" on Saturday. The guidance calls for lawyers to retain control over legal decisions, verify AI output and avoid practicing in jurisdictions where they are not licensed.

Lawyers should check AI results for bias, particularly when the output could affect a person's rights, access, opportunities or treatment. They also remain responsible for supervising vendors, nonlawyers and AI systems that contribute to legal work.

The guidelines allow lawyers to charge reasonable fees for time spent verifying AI output, but not for learning to use a tool. The cost of acquiring an AI tool is generally an overhead expense. The report also addresses conflicts of interest, notice when AI records or summarizes proceedings, disclosure in court submissions and review of work completed by agentic AI systems. The New York Rules of Professional Conduct do not specifically address AI-generated legal work, so the guidelines extend existing duties to AI tools, the association said.