Letter from the Chair

By Reginald A. Hirsch

Holiday Greetings from the Computer & Technology Section! We thank you for being a member
and please help us spread the word by urging your fellow colleagues to join as well.
Recently as Chair of our Section I attended the Council of Chairs, a bi-annual event hosted by
our State Bar in Austin. This was a great event allowing the Chairs of the various Sections of the
State Bar to personally interact with each other and share common issues and potential
solutions. The State Bar provided up to date information regarding Bar activities and
requirements for Sections per our State Bar rules and regulations.

On December 1, 2023 our Sections sponsored its 7th Annual Technology and Justice for All
CLE live in Austin, Texas at the State Bar Building. This year’s presentations were outstanding,
and we thank our great presenters and our engaged audience for their participation and
presence. As many of you know we offer this CLE free to the legal aid lawyers who serve our
community. This year we were able to record our program through the assistance of Texas
Legal services Center and especially Bruce Bower and Melissa Deutsch their videographer. By
recording our CLE we are now able to provide to the Legal Service Community an opportunity
to view our CLE for those Legal Aid Lawyers who were unable to attend our live CLE in Austin.
As a secondary benefit we will be able to provide you as members of the Computer and
Technology Section access to the CLE on our website, https://sbot.org. Currently the recording
is being edited and should be available in early 2024.

In the spirit of this holiday season, I want to express my thanks to the officers and council and
ex-officio members of our Section. They continued work and relentless efforts on behalf of the
Section make the “Magic Happen”! Behind the scenes the work of the Section appears effortless
but without their support and guidance we would not be able to provide our services to you as
Section members and to our State Bar. A special thanks also to our Administrative Assistant,
Erica Anderson, who never fails to anticipate an issue and provides guidance to our Executive
Committee and Council. Thank you, Erica.

I also want to thank the State Bar Sections Department who so ably support our Sections. As
many of you who work with the State Bar and attend various CLEs throughout the State it
requires an enormous effort to coordinate Section activities, publications, and programming.
This year after many years of service to the State Bar, Tracy Nuckols. Tracy over the years has
provided many untold hours in support and guidance for our Section and we wish you well in
your new future. Lyndsey Jackson is our new Sections Department Director, and we are excited
to work with Lyndsey and her great team and we congratulate her and thank her as she
continues to support our Sections. Also, I would like to thank Paul Burke and Jake Stoffle with
the State Bar, who help make the “Magic Happen”.

The December 2023 Issue of Circuits is an outstanding issue for our members. The variety of
articles and material will reward our members with scholarly and practical articles to be utilized
in their everyday practice. We have articles and tips including, AI Discovery Issues, 4th
Amendment cases dealing with iPhones, 3rd Party Rights and DNA Consent, Kid influencers,
Preparing and Responding to Cyber Incidents, ADR Technology, Presenting Science Evidence,
and Review of State and Federal laws regarding Privacy, Security and Wiretapping. To our great
authors we appreciate your contributions to Circuits and thank you.

I would like to thank Sally Pretorius our editor of Circuits and Katie Stahl, associate editor. You
both knocked it out of the park.

This year the State Bar of Texas honored our Section with a request to take over the
programming for the “Adaptable Lawyer Tract” held annually at the State Bar of Texas Annual
Meeting. This year’s meeting will be held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas Texas on June
20-21,2024. The “Adaptable Lawyer” tract will be on June 20,2024 and will be a full day CLE.
With the guidance of our CLE Chair, Grecia Martinez and our CLE subcommittee I can assure
you that this will be an outstanding CLE and we look forward to seeing you at the Annual
Meeting.

Cindy Tisdale, President of the State Bar of Texas in her recommendation to the State Bar was
to create a Working Group, now a Taskforce to examine issues surrounding Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and the Law and to make recommendations to the State Bar. Currently the
Chair of this Taskforce is John Browning and several of the appointed members of this Section
serve on the Taskforce. The issue of AI and the practice of law has and will be a continuing
issue for lawyers currently and into the future. The Computer and Technology Section has and
will continue to monitor, write, and speak on these issues. AI platforms like ChatGPT and
others will need to be evaluated for transparency, accountability, and accuracy. As Texas
lawyers we have an ethical obligation under our Professional Code of Conduct to maintain
“technical proficiency”. Our Section has and will continue to examine these issues regarding AI
and its usage by lawyers and provide information, resources, and guidance. We as a Section
strive to assist Texas lawyers in maintaining their “technical proficiency” and to respond with
knowledge and resources regarding these every evolving changes.

Finally, our behalf of the Section we wish you and your family the happiest of holidays and a
happy New Year.

Reginald A. Hirsch
2023–2024 Chair
Computer & Technology Section
State Bar of Texas

Without further ado, the latest version of our e-Journal Circuits for December, 2023 is here.