Being Intelligent with AI in the New Issue of Bar News 

AI is here to stay, and lawyers who don’t learn how to embrace it risk getting left behind. 

Like it or not, AI has now worked its way into every corner of the legal system. For some, this is a welcome change that will propel the legal profession forward and open up new ways of efficiently providing legal services and access to justice. For others, of course, the change brings countless worries and problems. 

So what about the member magazine for the 40,000+ legal professionals in Washington state? 

“This publication is meant to be educational, practical, and hopefully at least a little entertaining—all things that content generated by AI has the potential to be,” Bar News Editor Kirsten Abel writes in the Editor’s Note for the new issue. “However, this magazine is also supposed to be a place for legal professionals and others to share their human perspective on the legal system, case law, recently passed legislation, and more.” 

The Bar News team, along with the WSBA Editorial Advisory Committee, has taken up the question, developing a new AI use policy to govern what is and is not allowable when researching, editing, and generating content for the magazine. If you have thoughts to share, please email KirstenL@wsba.org. 

In other news, this issue delves into both the problems and potential of AI in legal services. Gloria Domingos and Daria Lundell of Domingos Law Firm explain what attorneys need to know when AI lies in court. 

“At our law firm, we implemented internal guidance requiring verification of all materials drafted with the help of AI,” they write. “Not because Washington requires it, but because our clients cannot afford for us not to. That needs to change.” 

And in the new “Innovation in Law” column, Jordan Couch, firm/role highlights the lessons learned from a decade of innovation in legal technology. 

“I recently celebrated my 10th year practicing law,” Couch writes. “Ten years of experimenting, failing, arguing, and winning occasionally. Most importantly, I have watched the legal profession slowly, fitfully, and sometimes reluctantly change.” 

On the cover for this July/Aug. issue, we get to know the newest face behind the bench of the Washington Supreme Court: Theo Angelis. In a wide-ranging Q&A with the new justice, he shares how he transitioned from a life of public service to private practice and back to public service again. He talks about his family, community and faith – and all the ways they have inspired him. And he even shares his best practice for rooting out biases in judicial decision-making: When deciding a case, he writes out both the potential biases that might come into play and his emotional responses to the briefs, then stores them on a hard drive, and shares them with his clerks to keep him accountable. 

“I do that with every case; I think it drives my clerks crazy,” Angelis says. 

And as always in the new issue, you can find all the latest columns, features, WSBA news, and more!