header-logo header-logo

Seeing is believing

252175
© Getty images

Why this senior lawyer is embracing AI, & why it matters that you see it: by Clive Hopewell

There is a certain comfort in experience. After decades in legal practice, you develop instincts and habits that have served you, and your clients, well. You know how to read a room, draft a clause that will hold up under scrutiny, and counsel a client through a crisis at midnight. These things are not easily replaced.

But comfort can also be a trap.

I am a senior lawyer and have been practising for longer than some of my colleagues have been alive. At the start of my career as a corporate lawyer, my exposure to technology was limited to waiting by the fax machine for the next turn of an agreement, then ferrying my mark-ups back and forth to the word processing team.

Over the past couple of years, I have been doing something that does not always come naturally at my stage of a career: I have been actively, deliberately,

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Burgess Mee—Victoria Sterritt

Burgess Mee—Victoria Sterritt

Family law boutique expands London team with legal director hire

Ward Hadaway—Mike Gore

Ward Hadaway—Mike Gore

Firm enhances advisory capability with strategic risk specialist hire

Stewarts—Alexandra Lyons

Stewarts—Alexandra Lyons

Insurance and reinsurance specialist joins policyholder disputes practice as partner

NEWS
Some employment law controversies never disappear—they merely lie dormant
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming legal practice, but its successful adoption depends as much on culture as technology
The fallout from Lord Mandelson’s appointment and dismissal as UK ambassador to Washington raises profound questions about constitutional governance, accountability and political appointments
Pastries may be in the firing line while kebabs escape scrutiny, but the reality is far more nuanced
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dillon highlights a central tension in modern public law: rights may be recognised without being fully realised
back-to-top-scroll