Pera Authors ABA Article on Legal & Ethical Issues of AI Notetaking Tools

Adams & Reese Partner Lucian Pera, one of the leading legal ethics practitioners in the nation, is published in the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Magazine, for his article, “What an Ethics Lawyer Learned from Being Stalked by an AI Notetaker.”

In the November-December 2025 issue of the ABA publication, Pera discusses a recent situation that he experienced in which an AI notetaker accessed and transcribed multiple video calls without permission. He addresses what legal implications may arise if calls are recorded without the consent of all parties involved, and how lawyers must thoroughly review AI tools’ confidentiality and data retention policies before using them in client interactions.

AI transcription and notetaking services are becoming the norm in business and legal conference calls and meetings as these technologies enable participants to have follow-up items, such as outlines of the discussion, lists of assigned tasks, and meeting recaps. However, there are ethical concerns that Pera points out.

“Don’t use an AI assistant notetaker, even one baked into your other trusted software, without careful review,” writes Pera. “And consider carefully what you will do when a client or someone else deploys one on a call with you. … If you or a participant on the call is in a jurisdiction that requires all-party consent to record a phone call or conversation, recording without that consent can be a crime.”

Pera added that there is ample ethics authority calling on us as lawyers to advise clients about how privileged or confidential communications should be protected.

Pera asks important questions: “Does the AI assistant notetaker contractually promise confidentiality of its recordings, transcriptions, and such? Read the terms of service. … Does the service store this information? If so, where? With your data on your servers or your existing cloud? Or solely on your devices? For how long? Can you decide whether and how long this data is kept? Do you have to affirmatively turn it on to have it appear and record a call? Or does it hunt and gather all your calls?”

Summed up, Pera says be careful. “Consciously set yourself a trial period. Experiment with these tools in ways that are low-risk and controlled. … And learn from this ethics nerd’s experience.”

At Adams & Reese, Pera is a Partner in the Memphis office. His 40 years of legal practice includes legal ethics, media law, and commercial litigation. He represents lawyers, law firms, and others on issues of legal ethics and lawyer professional responsibility.

A graduate of Princeton University and Vanderbilt University School of Law, Pera was a member of the ABA “Ethics 2000” Commission, which rewrote the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. He chaired the Tennessee Bar Association committee whose work led to the adoption of significantly revised Tennessee ethics rules patterned after the Model Rules.

Pera has chaired the editorial board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct and served as President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He served as chair of the governing board of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. The ABA Center for Professional Responsibility bestowed on him the prestigious Michael Franck Award, their highest award for work in the field of ethics and professional responsibility over his career.

Pera is a past Treasurer of the ABA and past President of the Tennessee Bar Association. He serves as a member of the ABA Board of Governors representing the Section of Business Law.