Chicago Bar Association president leads ‘ambitious’ AI initiative for lawyers and judges
When Nichole Patton ran for chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, she wanted to show others in the judiciary what artificial intelligence could do.
Patton released a campaign video featuring an AI-generated animation that looked and sounded exactly like her. While she admits it was “a little spooky,” she believes AI is a new norm that should be embraced.
“I think my colleagues appreciated the fact that I did something different because my theme was change, and in order to talk about change and technology, I wanted to demonstrate for them what that change would look like,” says Patton, who ultimately lost the election to fellow circuit court Judge Charles Beach in September.
“I wasn’t successful in my race, but I won’t blame it on AI,” she adds.
Patton is prioritizing AI in another inventive way as president of the Chicago Bar Association. After stepping into the role in June, she launched “AI 2035: The Legal Profession and the Judiciary in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” a first-of-its-kind initiative that tasks 10 special committees with exploring how AI will reshape law and justice over the next decade.
“I thought this would be a great initiative to prepare both [lawyers and judges], because it’s here,” Patton says. “AI is here. It’s not going anywhere. And when people pay for their membership, they expect their bar association to get them ready for the future.”
The committees, which are each co-chaired by a judge and an attorney, include AI & Courtroom Operations, AI & Data Privacy and Cybersecurity, and AI & Law Firm Economics. Each month, they host new CLE programs, which can be attended by any of the bar association’s members for free.
“I didn’t want it to be one seminar per month that only touches on one topic,” Patton says. “So the members are getting 10 different topics every month.”
Her team initially thought it was a “pretty ambitious” goal, Patton says. But so far, the programs have been well attended and received positive feedback, she adds. As one example, a member told Patton all the associates in his midsize firm were assigned to an AI committee. They will attend that committee’s monthly programs and report what they’ve learned to the entire firm.
Justice Rena Van Tine, who sits on the Illinois Appellate Court, attends most of the CLE programs as a co-chair of the committee that oversees AI 2035.
“The legal field is now evolving so rapidly and the lawyers that don’t adopt AI or at least become more educated about it, they may risk falling behind,” Van Tine says. “Judge Patton wants to make sure that does not happen to our members.”
“She is highly supportive of giving them tools they need to stay competitive but also educating them about what to be wary of when using it,” she adds.
As part of the AI 2035 initiative, the Chicago Bar Association will host a multi-day symposium in May. The goal is to provide both CLE programs and hands-on training to lawyers and judges who have different levels of familiarity with AI and AI tools, Patton says.
Patton joined the Cook County Circuit Court in 2018, after serving as an assistant state’s attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. While she hasn’t used AI in a professional capacity yet, she has used ChatGPT for personal tasks, such as doing research and making an itinerary for a vacation.
“When I saw it did in a matter of seconds what would have taken me probably six hours, I was in awe,” Patton says. “And I only have just scratched the surface.”
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