AI ETHICS and maximum sentences. It went and found witness information and created witness records. Everyone was leaning forward to the computer with their mouth open looking at this.” 39 In another example, the Maryland Office of the Public Defender implemented eDefender, a cloud- based case management system from Journal Technologies, Inc., that centralizes all case files into searchable folders accessible securely to defenders and paralegals working on the same case. The tool integrates with other third-party “justice partner systems,” APIs, and platforms (like Evidence. com) and centralizes critical tasks, reports, and communications. 40 Journal Technologies has similar platforms for prosecutors (eProsecutor) and courts (eCourts), and if all three are adopted in a given jurisdiction, this may facilitate equal access among all players in the jurisdiction. NACDL spoke with a representative from the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (OPD) for this white paper, and the conversation offered an instructive example of how a statewide public defender office can approach AI adoption incrementally using (1) internally developed and customized tools, (2) emerging tools with existing vendors like Westlaw, and (3) experimental tools with institutions researching AI use in certain industries. For example, the New Jersey OPD first started using an internal AI tool developed by New Jersey’s Office of Information Technology (NJOIT) specifically for state employees. This tool allows users to choose from models such as Claude and other large language models, that enable attorneys, investigators, or staff to quickly generate first drafts of informational memos, letters and policies, yet it is not used for legal briefs or any substantive legal research or work product. More recently, the office secured a six-to-nine-month trial of Westlaw’s CoCounsel product at no additional cost over their existing Westlaw subscription, which includes several AI features. Finally, the office is also partnering with Princeton University, NJOIT, and the New Jersey Innovation Authority to develop a “Brief Bank,” which would house all New Jersey public defender briefs on secured state infrastructure (through the state’s Office of Information Technology and with help from Amazon Web Services) and allow attorneys to generate first drafts informed by that institutional knowledge base. Critically, each of the tools used is structured so that client queries do not train the underlying models, and have validated security controls to ensure client information remains inaccessible to anyone but the public defenders. The New Jersey OPD’s posture overall might be described as “curious and responsible”: Public Defender Jennifer Sellitti recognizes that meaningful AI adoption requires understanding not just what tools exist and the limitations of those tools, but also a willingness to engage with public and private stakeholders who are interested in developing new tools and testing them with public interest focused organizations. This posture is worth examining for public defense offices navigating similar questions about efficiency and ethics, and procurement and resource constraints.
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Parity in Practice: The Defender’s Duty to Ethically Use AI
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