Extract from Emily Saul’s article “‘Here to Stay’: Judges at Legalweek Panel Say AI Is Not Going Anywhere, But Lawyers Need to Manage Risk”
A group of active and retired federal judges on Wednesday agreed on one thing when it comes to navigating discovery in a world that has embraced artificial intelligence and its risks: the technology isn’t going anywhere.
“AI is here, it’s here to stay,” former U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson in the Eastern District of Texas, now with Shook, Hardy & Bacon said during a panel at Legalweek 2025. “You’ve got to use AI to make yourself more proficient as a lawyer.”
Called “View from the Bench: Decoding the Ethics and Discovery Rules in the World of AI, Cybersecurity, and the Date Deluge,” the panel covered a variety of topics, including ESI protocols and the importance of modification clauses.
Participants also included non-human panelists ChatGPT, Claude, and other software that responded to the same prompts given to the judges.
Are Hyperlinks Documents?
Chief Magistrate Judge Willi Epps in the Western District of Missouri said a handful of cases in recent years have explored the issue, marking a shift in document-sharing practices.
