ChatGPT and Lawyers

Let’s say that ChatGPT isn’t very good when it comes to the law. Hallucinations are an expected hazard of its use. The lawyer knows the law, but that’s not enough. A lawyer has to know how to close a real estate transaction, zoning, emergency room medicine, mechanical engineering, fire prevention, supply chain, distribution rules for the promotion of medical devices, IVF, electrical construction load best practices, what a lineman calls a “pot,” CRISPR, decennial liability and how to read a financial statement. And over the course of a career, maybe a hundred other things. Like, that you can break a car window with a spark plug. That a 9mm shell won’t fit in a .380. That 12 points of fingerprint comparison are no longer needed–eight is enough. What a triple-neck round bottom flask is used for. Whether precursors can be used to make levo- or dextro- versions of a molecule. All the substances that share the molecular weight of C17H21NO4. That a vessel in extremis may violate transit rules to avoid an accident. None of which is taught in law school. And let’s not forget a private detective’s tradecraft, computer science and having the people skills to learn the backstory. And there’s always a backstory..ChatGPT provides the lawyer with an orientation to what was never studied. Except, of course, for the backstory.