Daniel W. Linna Jr., a Pritzker senior lecturer and the director of Law and Technology Initiatives, is providing his expertise in artificial intelligence and law as a member of the Illinois Supreme Court AI Task Force. 

Composed of more than 20 individuals, including judges, attorneys, court staff and other stakeholders, the AI task Force was formed to develop guidelines around AI use in the Illinois court system. Linna was invited to join the team in Jan. 2024. 

Last year, the AI Task Force passed a new policy that permits AI use within the Illinois legal system without required disclosure. This proposal took effect Jan. 1 and states that the use of AI “may be expected, should not be discouraged, and is authorized provided it complies with legal and ethical standards.”

“Technology could be used to augment what lawyers are doing, and, in many cases, automate some of the things that we are doing, which then creates opportunities for lawyers to do additional things that add a lot of value,” Linna said.

Linna’s research focuses on the application of AI to legal services and processes. From working in information technology and then as an equity partner at a law firm, Linna entered academia ten years ago after seeing the potential of technological integration. He said the legal sector lacks a “rigorous analysis” of how legal problems are solved in areas such as data analytics, process improvement and project management.

The AI Task Force unanimously approved the policy. Afterward, the Illinois Judicial Conference and Illinois Supreme Court approved the policy to be enacted in the state. 

“I truly think (Linna) helped us, especially in the early days, because of his knowledge and being able to share that knowledge to fill in the blanks for those who didn’t know as much about it,” said Jeffrey Goffinet, an associate judge on the First Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois and co-chair of the AI Task Force.

The resulting policy ensures that attorneys still “bear the consequences” for all submitted work to account for the challenge that AI is still developing, Goffinet said.

The task force also decided to forgo mandatory disclosure of AI usage to encourage people to use AI to supplement their work. Linna said required disclosure could create a “chilling effect” where lawyers might avoid AI out of fear of increased scrutiny from judges.

The original task force came from a desire to be “ahead of any issues,” Goffinet said. Since the policy took effect, Goffinet said he has noticed its immediate impact on his work, as he is now navigating AI-generated citations of nonexistent cases. 

Meanwhile, Thomas Jakeway, trial court administrator for the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois and co-chair of the AI Task Force, said members of his judiciary were interested in learning more about the ethical and responsible use of AI. This feedback aligns with the task force’s intention to fulfill the Illinois Supreme Court’s strategic goals, particularly in “fair, timely and efficient courts.”

“It’s really a work product that came about from a number of different perspectives, many different disciplines, several long months and a lot of great discussions,” Jakeway said. “But really distilled down over that time was something that we all agreed and believed in.”

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