AI Ethics for Lawyers: Mastering Op. 512, Client Confidentiality, and Defensible Billing in 2026

Jan L. Jacobowitz, Founder and Owner | Legal Ethics Advisor

Jan L. Jacobowitz is a nationally recognized legal ethics, social media, and technology expert and the founder and owner of Legal Ethics Advisor, through which she provides legal ethics consulting, expert testimony, opinion letters, and CLE training to law firms and legal organizations. Recent engagements have addressed attorney fees, conflicts of interest, the unauthorized practice of law, and innovative collaborations to provide legal services. She also continues to teach at the University of Miami School of Law.

• Education & Credentials

Jan holds a J.D. from George Washington University and a B.S. in Speech from Northwestern University. She is an active member of The Florida Bar, the D.C. Bar, and the State Bar of California. Jan is also a certified civil court mediator. Together, her academic foundation and multi-jurisdictional bar admissions support a national legal ethics consulting and CLE training practice that regularly serves law firms and legal organizations across multiple states.

• Recognition & Leadership

In 2018, Jan was invited to become an American Bar Foundation Fellow, an honor limited to one percent of lawyers in each jurisdiction. For over a decade, she directed the Professional Responsibility and Ethics Program (PREP) at Miami Law, which received the 2012 ABA E. Smythe Gambrell Award, the leading national professionalism program award. She is the immediate Past President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) and a co-author of its influential 2015 and 2016 advertising reports.

• Professional Involvement

Jan serves as Co-Chair of APRL’s Future of Lawyering Committee and as a member of its Advertising Committee. She has served as APRL liaison to multiple ABA committees, including the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. She served on the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and the Public Trust and as Vice Chairman of Broward County’s Committee on Oversight of the Inspector General. She has presented at hundreds of ethics CLE seminars and authored two books on legal ethics.

• Experience

Before transitioning to legal education and ethics consulting, Jan practiced law for over twenty years. She began as a Legal Aid attorney in the District of Columbia, then prosecuted Nazi war criminals at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations. She subsequently entered private practice with general practice and commercial litigation firms in Washington and Miami. At Miami Law, she led PREP to national recognition and continues to teach legal ethics, social media law, and mindful ethics there today.

Robin C. Schard, Director | University of Miami School of Law Library

Robin Schard is a librarian and legal information professional with over 25 years of experience, currently serving as Director of the University of Miami School of Law Library. At UM, she teaches courses on legal research, artificial intelligence, and other law-related technology, and has also delivered numerous CLEs and workshops on research and technology. Her work bridges traditional legal research scholarship with the rapidly evolving technology tools that today’s practicing attorneys and law students rely on.

• Education & Credentials

Robin earned a B.A. and an M.L.S. from Rutgers University. She also holds a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law, where she served as an Associate Editor of the Inter-American Law Review. This combination of legal training, library science, and law review experience equips her with both the doctrinal foundation and the information-management expertise that define her teaching and leadership in legal research, artificial intelligence, and law-related technology at Miami Law.

• Recognition & Leadership

Robin serves on the editorial board of the peer-reviewed journal Internet Reference Services Quarterly, where she contributes to advancing scholarships at the intersection of librarianship and digital information services. Before returning to Miami, she worked at Marquette University School of Law and was a regular columnist for the Marquette Elder’s Advisor. Her director role at the University of Miami School of Law Library reflects more than two decades of leadership and contribution to the legal information profession.

• Professional Involvement

Robin is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), the leading professional organization for legal information professionals in the United States, where she participates on several committees. Her teaching at the University of Miami School of Law covers legal research, artificial intelligence, and other law-related technology, and she also frequently delivers CLEs and workshops to the broader legal community on emerging research methodologies and technology tools that support attorneys in modern practice.

• Experience

Robin has built her career at the intersection of law librarianship, legal research instruction, and emerging technology. Prior to returning to the University of Miami, where she now directs the School of Law Library, she worked at Marquette University School of Law and contributed regularly as a columnist to the Marquette Elder’s Advisor. At UM, she leads library operations while teaching legal research, artificial intelligence, and law-related technology courses, and continues to deliver CLEs and workshops nationally.

Christopher B. Hopkins, Founder | Hopkins PA

Christopher B. Hopkins is a trial and appellate lawyer with Hopkins PA in West Palm Beach, bringing nearly three decades of experience in commercial and civil litigation for businesses and families. He also represents Florida lawyers in bar discipline cases. His practice focuses on emerging technologies, including privacy, defamation, data breaches, and internet crimes. A frequent speaker and prolific author, he has published over 100 articles spanning litigation, technology, and ethics, and integrates cutting-edge technology and AI into his litigation practice.

• Education & Credentials

Christopher earned his J.D. from Tulane Law School, a Master’s degree from Wesley Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from the University of Richmond. He is admitted to practice in Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as before the Florida federal district courts, the D.C. Circuit, the 5th and 11th Circuits, the D.C. Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. This breadth of admissions supports a robust trial and appellate practice.

• Recognition & Leadership

Christopher serves as an Attorney Fee Arbitrator for The Florida Bar (2022–present) and has twice chaired the Technology Committee of the Palm Beach County Bar Association (2011–13 and 2022–23). He was a Trustee of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches from 2018 to 2025 and served on the Advisory Board of FAU’s School of Public Administration. He was Executive Mentor for the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches and graduated with Leadership West Palm Beach’s Class of 2019.

• Professional Involvement

Christopher contributed to The Florida Bar’s Pro Se Appellate Handbook Committee in 2016 and served on the editorial board of Trial Advocate Quarterly from 2004 to 2021, including as interim editor in 2011–12. He teaches Constitutional Law II, Litigation, and Moot Court at the Florida Atlantic University Honors College as an Adjunct Professor. He is a frequent CLE speaker and author on emerging-technology law topics, including social media discovery, drone-acquired evidence, cryptocurrency, GPS surveillance, and arbitration enforcement.

• Experience

Christopher’s prior firm affiliations include McDonald Hopkins LLC, Akerman LLP, Butzel Long, and Cole Scott & Kissane, where he developed his trial and appellate practice across complex commercial, professional malpractice, and litigation matters. His reported decisions span Florida appellate courts and beyond, including Netchoice v. Florida (amicus), Schwartz v. ADP, and Scharrer v. FAS (Florida Bar Advisory Opinion). Today, his Hopkins PA practice integrates traditional litigation with emerging technology, privacy, defamation, and lawyer discipline matters.

SESSION 1 – Know Before You Prompt: AI Competence Under Rule 1.1 | 1:00pm – 1:30pm

This session applies ABA Formal Opinion 512 and Rule 1.1 to generative AI in practice, covering independent verification standards, the growing sanctions docket, court disclosure orders, and how state bar guidance diverges on the competence floor.

SESSION 2 – Protecting Client Confidentiality Under Rule 1.6 | 1:30pm – 2:00pm

This session works through Rule 1.6 obligations when using AI tools, distinguishing consumer from enterprise products, addressing vendor data handling, AI transcription tools, informed consent in engagement letters, and the privilege waiver gap after Heppner.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 3 – AI and Billing the Client | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

This session examines Rule 1.4 client communication and Rule 1.5 fee reasonableness when AI shortens task time, working through Opinion 512’s materiality standard, the Virginia LEO 1901 split, and proper pass-through of AI subscription costs.

SESSION 4 – Building Your Own AI Compliance Playbook | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

This session equips solo and small-firm attorneys with actionable compliance frameworks drawn from Opinion 512, the Heppner ruling, and emerging case law, covering documentation habits, key policy terms, and implementation guidance for an individual or firm AI policy.