As millions of Americans struggle to access affordable legal help, IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, and the Duke Center on Law & Technology released a new toolkit to help regulators of the legal profession address one of the barriers preventing AI-powered legal tools from reaching people who need them.
The AI Prosecutorial Guidance and Non-Prosecution Policy Toolkit focuses on unauthorized practice of law (UPL) rules, which vary widely across states, often creating uncertainty for organizations developing technology to help people with legal problems. The toolkit offers a practical alternative to waiting for formal rule changes. It shows regulators how prosecutorial guidance and non-prosecution policies can clarify the types of AI-powered legal-help tools they will and will not prioritize for UPL enforcement, while preserving meaningful consumer protections.
The toolkit:
-
Explores whether this approach may be appropriate for a particular jurisdiction;
-
Provides building blocks that regulators and other leaders can use to develop a policy;
-
Identifies consumer protections that can be incorporated into these policies, including transparency, privacy, informed consent, accuracy and reliability, remedies, and referral to qualified human help when appropriate; and
-
Offers a framework for using these policies to generate lessons that can inform longer-term regulatory reform.
The toolkit draws on more than two years of research and convenings, input from more than 250 stakeholders, and Colorado’s experience becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to adopt a generally applicable UPL non-prosecution policy.
