According to a survey by the management consulting firm McKinsey, “The state of AI in 2023,” one-third of respondents already use artificial intelligence tools “regularly in at least one business function.” Likewise, Above the Law reports that about 15 percent of lawyers currently use generative AI for work; however, 73 percent expect to incorporate these tools within the next year.
But you probably could’ve guessed that. AI is everywhere, and it’s almost impossible to avoid proclamations about its pending ubiquity in our daily lives—personally and professionally. Beyond the doomsday scenarios espoused by hyperbolic billionaires and the psychedelic silliness of AI-generated videos depicting celebrities eating spaghetti, there are myriad serious questions left to answer.
Writing in the cover story of the latest issue of Washington State Bar News, patent attorney Taylor Fairchild highlights and attempts to answer some of those questions.
“With resulting works such as images, text, videos, sounds, and schematics, a host of intellectual property issues arises,” Fairchild writes about the cyberspace odyssey through the U.S. court system’s response to generative AI. “Who owns the works created by these algorithms? Can the generated works be copyrighted, trademarked, or patented? Can a generated work infringe on existing intellectual property? In the last few years, courts have battled with these questions, come to some definitive answers, drawn from historical IP philosophies, and muddied the waters.”
But there is much, much more happening with the legal profession.
Also in this issue, WSBA Executive Director Terra Nevitt continues to discuss the future of the bar exam and, more pointedly, “draft recommendations from the Bar Licensure Task Force, including multiple perspectives about why the Washington Supreme Court is considering historic changes to the bar admissions process.” According to Nevitt, “As a fully integrated bar, the WSBA has been delegated the authority of the Washington Supreme Court to administer and ensure the integrity of the admissions process.”
(For more articles on the future of the bar exam and alternative pathways to lawyer licensure, check out the November 2023 issue of Bar News.)
WSBA President Hunter M. Abell dedicates his column to acknowledging the less cheerful side of the holiday season and the impact to the mental health of legal professionals. “I want to speak directly to our members going through difficult times: You are not alone,” writes Abell, pointing toward WSBA resources available through the WSBA Member Wellness Program and more.
In the December/January issue you can also read a plea from William T. McClure for why all lawyers and law firms should recognize the power of using paralegals, David C. Tingstad and Douglas Batey get into the weeds about the differences between Washington’s LLC Act and the Uniform LLC Act, Mark Fucile unpacks the nuts and bolts of the mechanics of conflict waivers, and UW Law Associate Teaching Professor Benjamin S. Halasz speaks to Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu to provide a perspective from the bench on persuasive writing tips.
