Ethical AI Law Firm Serving Virginia Businesses

At Dunlap Law, our attorneys use enterprise-grade AI to accelerate research, document review, fact analysis, and initial drafting. The attorney designs the inputs carefully, verifies every output, applies legal judgment, and takes responsibility for the work product. AI handles the mechanical layer; the attorney handles the legal layer. 

The ethical floor in Virginia is Rule 1.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, including Rule 1.6(d), which requires lawyers to make reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure. At Dunlap Law, we use enterprise AI platforms that do not train on client data, and our internal AI governance policy restricts what information may be entered into AI systems and by whom. We do not use public models or models that train on inputs.  

Yes — and the framework for doing so is now well-developed in Virginia. The Virginia Bar Association’s AI Task Force, on which our managing partner served, helped develop a model attorney AI policy and ethics checklist that gives Virginia lawyers a usable framework for adoption. The core principles: licensed attorney supervision of AI outputs, confidentiality protections that meet Rule 1.6, fees that comply with Rule 1.5 and LEO 1901, and ongoing technology competence under Rule 1.1. Dunlap Law operates within that framework — and helped draft it. 

Virginia attorney AI policy is grounded in the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct — primarily Rule 1.1 (competence, including the duty of technology competence), Rule 1.6 (confidentiality, including the reasonable-efforts standard of Rule 1.6(d)), and Rule 1.5 (reasonable fees, with LEO 1901 specifically addressing flat and value-based pricing). Tricia Dunlap helped draft the model policy and ethics checklist that the Virginia bar uses to apply these rules to AI. Dunlap Law’s internal policy is built on that framework: every AI-assisted work product is reviewed and approved by a licensed Virginia attorney, and confidentiality and fee obligations are addressed by design. 

LEO 1901 confirms that flat and value-based fees are appropriate when they reflect the value the client receives — including the lawyer’s expertise, the quality of the work product, and the firm’s investment in tools and processes. AI lets a firm deliver high-quality work more efficiently, which lets us offer flat-fee and subscription engagements with predictable scope. On hourly matters, efficiency gains directly reduce billable time. Either way, the goal is pricing aligned with the value you receive. 

No. AI handles mechanical tasks. Dunlap Law attorneys own their independent legal judgment, advice to clients, and accountability for complying with our internal policies and the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct. Virginia Rule 1.1 makes that non-negotiable as a matter of professional responsibility, and so do we. 

Three concrete reasons. Our managing partner helped write Virginia’s first model AI policy for lawyers as a member of the Virginia Bar Association’s AI Task Force and was elected to the VBA Board of Governors in 2026. Virginia Lawyers Weekly selected Dunlap Law for its 2026 Legal Excellence in Innovation Awards in the Small Firm Innovation category, drawing on peer nominations and insights from trusted sources. And the framework Dunlap Law operates under is the same framework Tricia helped build for the Commonwealth’s bar. 

You can verify the substance directly. Dunlap Law’s complete AI Use Policy is available here [link to PDF]. The Virginia Bar Association publishes its AI resources, including the model policy and ethics checklist, at https://www.vba.org/?pg=ai.