AI is already part of how modern firms work. Drafting, researching, predicting, summarizing. It isn’t going away.
So the real question is what we do with it. Everyone is talking about what AI can do. These are the things we will and won’t do with it, said out loud.
What We Commit To
We use AI to elevate people, and the work they do.
Our clients. Our communities. Our courts. Our teams. That’s who this has to make better off. AI supports judgment. It never replaces it. It should make our work better, not just faster, and leave room for the messiness of being human. The lawyer stays responsible for the outcome.
We do the work right.
AI doesn’t lower the bar. It raises it. Every output gets checked by a person before it goes out the door.
We aim it at the people who need it most.
Used well, AI lowers the cost of good legal help. We use it to reach the underserved, not just the well-served. And we keep looking for ways, in our own practices and in what we build, to put it to work for access to justice.
A person, not a data point.
Every client, every opposing party, every witness is a person. Never a shortcut. Never just a record to optimize.
We will not use AI to bury anyone.
No flooding a court or an opposing party with unnecessary filings just because AI makes volume cheap. Merit wins, not mass.
AI is not a weapon to point at people.
We will not use it to harass, intimidate, or silence anyone. Not a client, not an opposing party, not a witness, not a colleague. That is not what this technology is for.
We will not put fake evidence in front of a court.
We do everything reasonable to catch fabricated and AI-generated media: deepfake video, audio, images, and documents. If we can’t verify it’s real, we don’t file it.
AI has a footprint. We take it seriously.
We weigh the environmental cost when we decide how to use AI. We use it on purpose, not by default. And we look for practical ways, in our own practices, to do better.
We lock the doors before we open new ones.
AI raises the stakes on every client file we hold, so security is ongoing work, not a checkbox. We carry cybersecurity insurance that fits the size of our practice. If we don’t have that insurance yet, we make a real effort to get it in place as soon as we can.
Firms and businesses worth being at.
Our people are colleagues, not costs. We use AI to make them better at their work, not to get rid of them. And we measure success by more than revenue.
A person is always responsible.
Every use of AI in our practice has a name attached to it. Ethics, judgment, and supervision stay human.
We keep learning, on purpose.
This technology moves fast. We invest in real, ongoing education for us, our teams, and our clients.
Straight talk, always.
About what AI can do, and what it can’t. We don’t oversell it, and we don’t hide behind it when something goes wrong. We keep our own voice, too. AI helps us write. It doesn’t speak for us. What goes out under our name sounds like us and says what we mean.
Who’s Signed On
Law firms and legal technology companies that have adopted The Higher Bar.
Sign below and we’ll add your firm or company here, with a link to your site.
Sign the Pledge
It takes a minute. Once you sign, here’s what you get:
- Your firm or company listed on this page, with a link to your site
- A “Signed The Higher Bar” badge for your website and LinkedIn
- A press release template to announce it
- Law firms: a free month of Best Era Community Plus
The Higher Bar is convened by Best Era, West Hartford, Connecticut. It is a voluntary set of commitments. It creates no legal obligation and changes no rule of professional conduct.
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