Ken Shigley - Attorney at Johnson & Ward LLC

09/29/2026

Ten things to do after an automobile accident.

https://www.atlantainjurylawblog.com/page/2

09/08/2026

My grandparents weren't lawyers and never imagined AI, but they could have told you what the California legislature just enacted.

California legislators just passed a bill telling lawyers they can't hand their job over to a chatbot. They need a statute for this? But the fact that they needed to pass a statute about it may tells us that some California lawyers have been letting the machine do the whole thing and hoping nobody notices. Hallucinated citations in court filings reveal that.

The bill is SB 574, passed unanimously, and it's on the governor’s desk awaiting signature. It provides that AI requires human supervision. If you use AI to help write something to be filed in court, the lawyer is responsible for actually checking it, fixing anything AI hallucinated before filing it in court, and protect your client's confidential information, and in some cases you have to disclose that AI was involved.

Lawyers cannot delegate the practice of law to an AI system. Lawyers have always been responsible for what they file in court. AI doesn't change that, it just makes it easier to file something you didn't read.

I had a case years ago in which the opposing lawyer filed a brief in support of a motion to dismiss, citing the old version of a Georgia statute that had been changed. I pointed that out in my reply brief. but he just plunged ahead in oral argument without changing a thing.

The judge then told him, "I set this for hearing to see what you would say about that brief you filed." Then the judge excoriated the lawyer for about five minutes, practically peeling the paint off the courtroom walls, and told him he was reporting him to the State Bar for disciplinary action.

I wanted to go to the poor sap's rescue, but if you opponent is self-destructing it is often prudent to get out of the way. He groveled to the judge and we got a check for the full amount we were seeking within a couple of days.

That was long before AI entered our lives. The part I think matters most for the rest of the country is the signal. California tends to go first on this stuff, and the direction is clear.. Other states will follow. The future of AI in law Is going to be about proving you stayed responsible while you used it.

AI provides us some amazing tools. We can't put that genie back in the bottle but we must keep a knowledgeable human in the loop is essential.

05/15/2026

This is a monumental 9-0 decision by the United States Supreme Court. Congratulations to my Ohio friends, Rena and Michael Leizerman, for the win!

Today, in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, the Supreme Court unanimously held that federal trucking law does not wipe out state-law negligent hiring claims against freight brokers who choose unsafe motor carriers.

For years, freight brokers have argued that they should be immune from responsibility when they put unsafe trucking companies on our roads because federal law supposedly “preempts” those claims. The Supreme Court rejected that argument.

The Court held that when a broker chooses a carrier to haul freight across our highways, that choice has consequences. If the broker ignores red flags, poor safety ratings, unsafe drivers, or a history of crashes, families on the road should not be the ones forced to bear the cost alone.

This decision helps protect drivers on the road by elevating the safety standards for trucking brokers and carriers. This decision will save lives.

04/21/2026

This is essential to deter a sleazy business practice among bottom feeding lawyers. As long as the law against directly soliciting accident victims is not a felony, state prosecutors will not devote the resources to prosecute.

While lawyers across the state agree that case-running law needs reform, opinions are mixed about whether this bill will provide the fixes they are looking for.

"Historically, similar provisions have been on the books, but there has seemed to be a hesitancy in enforcing the letter of the law," trucking defense attorney Zach Matthews of McMickle, Kurey and Branch, LLP told reporter Alex Anteau.

Anteau also spoke with plaintiffs lawyers Darl Champion and Matt Cook and appellate practitioner Laurie Webb Daniel of Webb Daniel Friedlander for further insights.

🔗 https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2026/04/14/case-running-could-become-a-felony-in-georgia-but-is-it-only-symbolic-/

04/21/2026

In my parents' generation, the government of Germany took lists of Jews and rounded them up. We all know how that ended up. That was the culmination of centuries if pograms and persecution.
Now, with far right-wing activists enjoying increased influence in the US, the EEOC has demanded that a major university produce lists of Jews on campus complete with home addresses. With the history of the past centuries and growing influence of right wing extremists, are Jews justified in seeing this as ominous?

A federal judge’s insensitive opinion could threaten Jews on campus, not protect them

04/06/2026

Hmmm

More aspiring young lawyers are asking for—and getting—extra time to finish the bar exam, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. 🔗 https://on.wsj.com/4maoUfb

In California, for instance, where more people take the bar than in any other state, 14% of the nearly 8,000 test takers last July received accommodations, up from 4% a decade earlier, according to the state bar. In Washington, D.C., the number has exceeded one in seven.

The development follows one already coursing through high schools and colleges: More students have diagnoses for disabilities like ADHD and receive extra time for classwork or the SAT.

Now, as this generation enters the workforce, the phenomenon has reached professional licensing exams—and law firms are adapting, launching programs to support young associates with diagnoses.

03/26/2026

Technology: blessing or curse? Courts now have to deal with nonsense that wasn't even a thing when I started out.

03/05/2026

Free consultation for all Neck & Back Injury cases. Johnson & Ward has a proven track record of successful Neck & Back Injury cases.

03/01/2026

When a family member is killed by someone else's negligence, survivors may have mixed feelings about filing a wrongful death lawsuit for that death. Certainly, no amount of money can bring the departed loved one back. However, a monetary award is the only way that civil law has to recognize the value of the life, compensate for the death, and penalize the party at fault.

Free consultation for all Wrongful Death cases. Johnson & Ward has a proven track record of successful Wrongful Death cases.