Adams and Reese Partner Lucian Pera, a leading professional responsibility and ethics law attorney, co-authored the chapter on legal ethics and lawyers’ responsibilities in using AI in a book released by the American Bar Association. Artificial Intelligence: Legal Issues, Policy, and Practical Strategies is the ABA’s first book addressing AI and the law.
The book was a collaboration between the ABA Presidential Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence and ABA Science & Technology Law Section. It features contributions from more than 40 preeminent authorities from in-house legal departments, private practice, nonprofits, academia, government, and judiciary. The book will be officially launched on Aug. 1 at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, where contributors will be on hand for recognition and a reception.
Pera co-authored the ethics chapter with attorneys John Weaver and Andrew Sutton of McLane Middleton.
In addition to the legal ethics of lawyer use of AI and counseling clients using and developing AI, the book’s topics include: a primer on key AI concepts; overarching legal issues, including AI governance and ethics; AI and law practice management; AI and the courts and how AI can be used to close the justice gap; intellectual property issues and the impact of AI on the workplace; AI risks, including cybersecurity, privacy, and national security; a European perspective on AI; and the long-term future of AI.
“We created this book as a resource on a wide range of critical issues concerning AI and the law,” said Lucy Thomson, Chair of the AI Task Force and principal of Livingston PLLC. “AI will require lawyers and judges to understand how AI works, how it is developed and used, what advantages it can bring, the risks it can create and the legal and ethical issues that will arise.”
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. The ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
At Adams and Reese, Pera practices primarily in legal ethics, media law, and commercial litigation. He represents lawyers, law firms, and others on issues of legal ethics and lawyer professional responsibility. Pera was a member of the ABA “Ethics 2000” Commission, which rewrote the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. He chaired the Tennessee Bar Association committee whose work led to the adoption of significantly revised Tennessee ethics rules patterned after the Model Rules.
Pera has chaired the editorial board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct and served as President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He served as chair of the governing board of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.
The ABA Center for Professional Responsibility bestowed upon Pera the Michael Franck Award, their highest award for work in the field of ethics and professional responsibility. Pera is a past Treasurer of the ABA and a past President of the Tennessee Bar Association. He currently serves as a member of the ABA Board of Governors representing the Section of Business Law.