The State Bar of California has launched the Legal Aid Generative AI Readiness Model, which provides a practical framework to help legal aid organizations assess their readiness for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), manage associated risks, and identify next steps to strengthen organizational and collective readiness, the State Bar’s Office of Access & Inclusion (OA&I) and Office of Operational and Digital Transformation (ODT) announced today.
The model, which was created by OA&I and ODT, helps legal aid organizations assess the capabilities, safeguards, and organizational conditions needed to make informed decisions about GenAI. It does not prescribe a single path, recommend GenAI adoption, or measure success by the amount of GenAI an organization uses.
The model is one of several resources developed through the Legal Aid Justice Technology Collaborative (LAJTC), a statewide effort launched by the State Bar’s Legal Services Trust Fund Commission to support legal aid grantees in understanding and safely adopting emerging technologies to expand access to justice at scale. As a grantee- and client-centered initiative shaped through broad stakeholder engagement, the LAJTC promotes responsible, ethical, and community-driven technology adoption across California’s legal aid network through its multiyear workplan.
“The Generative AI Readiness Model helps organizations decide whether, where, and under what conditions generative AI may strengthen services and support their work, while protecting client confidentiality, professional obligations, and community trust,” said State Bar Executive Director Laura Enderton-Speed. “The Legal Aid Justice Technology Collaborative provides our grantees with a centralized hub to understand and safely adopt emerging technologies, whatever their stage of technological maturity, staff capacity, or financial resources.”
The Legal Aid Generative AI Readiness Model and other resources, including materials from the monthly LAJTC webinar series and access to technical assistance for grantees, are available on the LAJTC’s newly launched resource hub.
The State Bar of California’s mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.
