This program will explore the ethical duties of an attorney when billing clients, as well as best practices to avoid fee disputes and ensure entitlement to payment.

The State Bar of California has adopted new guidelines which address the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the legal profession. The “Practical Guidance for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Law,” which is influenced by the recommendations of the Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), touches upon confidentiality, competence, compliance, communication, candor, billing, and bias. The goal is to clarify what ethical obligations lawyers have and what pitfalls to avoid when relying on AI.

Lawyers need to know about this evolving technology in order to understand the coming regulation, avoid non-compliance, and to protect the public.

This program will review the new guidelines and how AI promises to revolutionize the practice of law.

The new Rule of Professional Conduct 8.3, that requires lawyers to report other lawyers for certain types of illegal conduct, has generated questions about when it is necessary to report conduct, what types of illegal conduct are required to be reported, and what types of conduct shouldn't be reported. This program will provide guidelines for the average practitioner and will also address reporting requirements when the conduct comes from lawyers within the same firm, pursuant to Rules 5.1 and 5.2. This knowledge is essential for anyone managing a law office, particularly since a violation can affect not only a lawyer involved in wrongdoing, but the lawyer or lawyers who could be disciplined for failing to report the errant lawyer.

This panel of top attorneys in malpractice and ethics will discuss the complicated issues in fee agreements, including:

- Contingent fees of 50% or more
- Changing fee amounts mid-stream
- Can a contingent fee ever be increased after the initial K is entered?
- Taking a percentage of the client’s income in perpetuity (despite new counsel, new K having been negotiated, and other change of circumstances, can this be shoehorned into an unconscionability argument?)
- Nuances of referral fees; best practices for handling fee disputes
- Requirement of observing MFAA in B&P Code before compelling contractual arbitration
- Arbitration agreements
- When and what do you have to tell the client to seek independent counsel before agreeing (e.g., waiver of a jury trial is an essential right that needs to be carefully considered; that the loser in litigation may pay attorney’s fees)