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State Bar of Michigan: AI FAQs for Attorneys

State Bar of Michigan, Ethics and Practice Management Resource Center · Michigan

last revised 2025-02-11last verified 2026-09-042 versionscountry page →

GuidanceIn forceVerification dutyConfidentialityClient consentSupervisionCompetence

map categories:Bar guidance on generative AIBilling for AI workClient data in AI toolsDuty to verify AI outputTechnological competenceSupervision of AI workClient consent and transparency

Unverified: we have not yet opened the official document at the linked address. The record is listed for completeness and excluded from search indexes until confirmed.

Michigan's operative AI guidance is a set of State Bar FAQs rather than a formal RI opinion. They impose verification, client-consent, vendor-security, billing and supervision duties under the MRPC, and adopt Ethics Opinion RI-381 as the vendor due-diligence standard for AI providers.

Applies to
lawyers, firms
Effective
See version history
Current version
Fees section update · 11 Feb 2025
Last verified
04 Sept 2026
Official text
www.michbar.org/opinions/ethics/AIFAQs

What the document requires

  • Lawyers must understand AI capabilities and limitations including hallucination risk (MRPC 1.1) and must verify all AI-generated citations and text before filing (MRPC 1.3)
  • Client consent is required before inputting protected client information into any AI tool, and the provider's security measures must be evaluated per Ethics Opinion RI-381 (MRPC 1.6(c)(1))
  • Where AI shortens a task, a lawyer may bill only the actual time worked
  • AI subscription costs are firm overhead and may not be passed to clients absent advance agreement; per-use transactional AI costs may be billed as out-of-pocket expenses if disclosed in the engagement agreement
  • A firm may not bill clients for time spent learning to use AI tools
  • Managing and supervising lawyers must ensure firm personnel comply with the MRPC when using AI (MRPC 5.1, 5.3)
  • Submitting AI-hallucinated citations to a court violates MRPC 3.3
  • No blanket duty to disclose AI use to clients unless it implicates confidentiality, a court order, or materially affects the representation

Version history

VersionDateWhat changedSource
Fees section updatecurrent2025-02-11Fees section updatedofficial
Original2024-11-18Initial publicationofficial

Sources

Cite this record

SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "State Bar of Michigan: AI FAQs for Attorneys" (State Bar of Michigan, Ethics and Practice Management Resource Center, Fees section update, 2025-02-11), safelegalai.com/regulation/us-state/us-mi-state-bar-ai-faqs (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.

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