Turning Points--by Watershed Legal Counsel

  A practical guide for individuals, businesses, and public entities navigating AI use in legal decision-making Artificial intelligence has become the first stop for a lot of legal questions. I see that firsthand in my practice almost every day. Many clients come to us after they’ve already run an issue through AI. Some have gone further—submitting comments to an administrative agency or even filing things in court based on AI-generated content without involving an attorney or other appropriate expert. Even after we’re retained, we sometimes recognize the hallmarks of AI in client emails responding to draft work we’ve shared. It’s a fair assumption that those drafts are being run through an AI tool to generate comments or revisions before coming back to us. None of that is unusual. And in many cases, it starts from a good instinct—trying to understand the issue and engage more effectively. But it also reflects something I see regularly: people are getting information without alwa...

  If you’re feeling unsettled right now, you’re not alone. Across the country—and especially here in Maryland—people doing important work are staring down a moment of real uncertainty. Researchers counting on federal grants, local governments trying to balance their budgets, businesses navigating shifting regulations, nonprofits wondering if their funding is about to dry up. It’s a tough time to plan when so much seems up in the air. Recent events have only heightened the tension. A White House executive order temporarily freezing federal funds sent organizations scrambling, unsure if the money they’d been counting on would still come through. Maryland’s $3 billion budget deficit is already sparking debates about cuts and tax increases, with the impacts likely to ripple through state contracts and programs. And in the energy world, the explosion of AI-driven data centers has been driving major infrastructure decisions—until new research (most recently the release of DeepSeek) threw...