Libby Clark said on May 12 that the ongoing debate over artificial intelligence in law is overshadowing a deeper issue: the legal profession’s long-term neglect of developing human capacities that technology cannot replace. Clark, who has been involved in wellbeing reform within the field, said AI has highlighted weaknesses that have built up over decades, making human judgment now the key factor for legal legitimacy.
Clark argued that while law evolved to manage risk through precedent, process, and delay—tools meant to ensure continuity and allow for reflection—these structures have increasingly been used defensively to avoid accountability. She said, “Precedent preserves continuity; process enables coordination; structured deliberation allows for reflection. But over time, law has increasingly used these structures defensively, as shields against accountability rather than frameworks for judgment.”
With AI automating many tasks once handled by lawyers, Clark said operational intelligence is no longer enough. The profession must restore “the willingness to decide, to take responsibility, and to hold the line when systems cannot.” She noted that as automation takes over routine work such as precedent matching or pattern recognition, it does not eliminate but instead concentrates responsibility in decisions involving ambiguity or competing values.
Clark also pointed out structural vulnerabilities within the profession itself: “The problem…is not that law failed to adopt technology responsibly. It is that the profession has failed to treat judgment as a trainable, accountable discipline.” Recent scholarship cited by Clark argues AI’s capabilities can undermine expertise and short-circuit decision-making in civic institutions such as law.
The New York State Bar Association supports initiatives promoting equal access to justice and public understanding of the law while advancing professional success among its members according to its official website. The association serves members from all 50 states and more than 100 countries worldwide through programs based at its Bar Center in Albany.
Clark concluded by warning that without renewed focus on cultivating sound judgment and ethical stewardship among lawyers—as opposed to relying solely on processes or technological solutions—the legitimacy of legal institutions could be at risk.
