By Joel D. Henriod
We’ve all seen the headlines about lawyers who relied too heavily on AI—and learned the hard way that confidence isn’t competence. The technology is improving fast, and it’s clearly here to stay. The challenge is learning to use it as Atticus Finch would have: with care, humility, and a sense that wisdom is still the lawyer’s most reliable software.
The fastest search engine
Not long ago, the fastest search engine in any office was the senior partner’s memory. Research meant books, pencils, and long nights in the library. Now, a few keystrokes summon more precedent than a lifetime of shelves. AI can draft, cite, and even predict. It saves time—but justice has never been a race.
If Atticus practiced today, he’d use the software gratefully, then double-check the work. He’d understand that a correct answer isn’t always a complete one. Because he sees how doctrines weave together, he’d sense when the algorithm’s response was accurate yet shallow. His human intuition would prompt the machine to go further—to find meaning as well as information.
The moral operating system
The law runs on something deeper than data. Fairness, proportion, and mercy don’t appear in search results. They depend on conscience—the one operating system that can’t be coded.
Atticus would keep that compass close. He’d let the machine handle the noise while he listened for the human truth underneath. That’s the art of advocacy that no algorithm can imitate.
The relationships that matter
AI can summarize discovery or draft a motion, yet it can’t build trust. The client-lawyer bond still rests on listening and understanding. The same holds true between lawyers and judges, lawyers and juries, even lawyers and one another. Collegiality can’t be automated.
Atticus would know that the health of the profession lives in those relationships. Our shared work—within firms, courts, and bar associations—keeps the law personal and credible. Technology may support that process, but the human connection is what makes it breathe.
The human circuit
Science and technology will keep expanding access to justice in ways our predecessors could hardly imagine. They are good tools—so long as steady hands guide them.
Every advance in science calls for an equal advance in ethics. Atticus would remind us that wisdom still matters and that character remains the law’s most reliable code. When we gather, debate, and learn from one another, we sharpen the one instrument technology can’t replicate—the moral reasoning of the human mind.
So bring your gadgets to the next mixer. Let AI help with the research. The algorithm will never replace the Atticus. It can only assist him.
About the author
Joel D. Henriod is a litigator who specializes in appeals at Henriod Stern. He practices in substantive areas ranging from personal injury and product liability to commercial and public-sector disputes involving election law, breach of contract, taxation, eminent domain, governmental regulation, etc. He serves as CCBA president through December 2025.
About the article
This article was originally published in the Communiqué (Dec. 2025), the official publication of the Clark County Bar Association. The printed magazine was mailed out to CCBA members during the last week of November 2025.
The articles and advertisements appearing in Communiqué magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the CCBA, the CCBA Publications Committee, the editorial board, or the other authors. All legal and other issues discussed are not for the purpose of answering specific legal questions. Attorneys and others are strongly advised to independently research all issues.
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