Wex Law

09/17/2026

09/16/2026

AI Garbage In — Garbage Out: Lately, I’ve had a few IT/legal contracts involving the development of AI systems for several Silicon Valley firms. Here are my thoughts. AI is software. It is developed worldwide by governments, universities, corporations, open-source communities, and individuals, and its computing capacity continues to expand through data centers around the world. Think of AI like an employee. It can perform tasks independently, but it can also make mistakes, misunderstand instructions, and produce convincing but inaccurate and/or misleading results. AI has to be managed, its authority limited, and its work verified. The old computer adage still applies: garbage in, garbage out. That hasn’t changed in 50 years. AI may be vastly more sophisticated, but the quality of its output still depends on the quality of its data, instructions, assumptions, and programming. The real danger arises when humans give AI more authority and autonomy than its reliability justifies. That is fundamentally an engineering, security, and management problem—not something Trump and Xi can solve simply by declaring that “AI shall remain under human control.”

09/10/2026

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity is not the “get out of jail free” card many people believe it is. In many cases, the practical consequences can be far worse than a prison sentence. Instead of being sent to prison, the person is committed to a secure mental institution, often alongside others who committed murder, r**e, or other serious crimes while suffering from significant mental disorders. The person is then subjected to psychiatric evaluations to determine whether he or she remains mentally ill or dangerous and can safely be released. In my experience representing clients through this process, release can be extraordinarily difficult. Some remain hospitalized for decades, and in the most serious cases, confinement can effectively last the rest of their lives. There is a practical reason. Even when the law provides a path to eventual release, psychiatrists, prosecutors, and judges understand the consequences if they support releasing someone who later commits another violent act: everyone will ask, “Why did you let this person out?” There is relatively little professional or political risk in recommending continued confinement. There can be enormous risk in recommending release and being wrong. That institutional reality can make obtaining release extraordinarily difficult, regardless of how straightforward the procedure may appear on paper.

09/10/2026

Scientists recognized more than a century ago that Earth’s climate changes naturally, with Milankovitch cycles providing an important explanation for long-term climatic shifts. But if we insist that government can and should “fix” climate change, then perhaps government should start by examining what it actually controls. Politicians talk endlessly about climate change while refusing—or failing—to seriously address major contributors embedded in their own building codes and infrastructure policies. We keep paving the landscape with heat-absorbing asphalt, pouring mountains of concrete, building with carbon-intensive steel, and approving sealed buildings with windows that don’t even open—making air conditioning a necessity rather than an option. If climate change is truly the crisis politicians say it is, then we should have the intellect and courage to confront the infrastructure, construction practices, and building codes government itself promotes, mandates, and approves. Otherwise, stop lecturing ordinary people about their cars, air conditioners, and gas stoves while government keeps laying asphalt, pouring concrete, erecting steel, and approving buildings designed from the outset to depend on mechanical cooling. - Michael Devereux, Esq.

06/25/2026

The Department of Justice is giving California the chance to avoid a federal lawsuit one week before the state implements a ban on semiautomatic Glock-style handguns. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday, asking them to enter pre-suit settlement negotiations by June 30. Otherwise, a complaint will be filed if the ban takes effect on July 1.

06/15/2026

Let me tell you how this works, the justice department rarely, if ever, announces or makes known their investigations until they are close to an arrest. The defendants are generally the last to know.