header-logo header-logo

Separating hype from reality—the impact of AI on legal training

06 October 2023 / Jo-Anne Pugh
Issue: 8043 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail
AI may be transformative but lawyers still need to be taught core skills, writes Jo-Anne Pugh
  • While AI technology has the potential to alter the legal sector, this shouldn’t be conflated with a fundamental change in the nature of what it means to be a lawyer.
  • Rather than a complete overhaul of our current approach to legal education, we must consider how best to prepare an AI-enabled, rather than AI-replaced, generation of lawyers.

The legal profession has been likened to a ‘closed shop’, resilient against the influences of flash-in-the-pan trends and with a reputation for being hesitant to change. Yet, the plethora of discussions around advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology over the past year demonstrate how the profession is not immune to jumping on a tech bandwagon.

Questions about the future of the legal profession in an AI world are on the rise, with charged headlines about AI threatening the livelihoods of legal professionals and stories of lawyers being fined after using

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

Pillsbury—Steven James

Pillsbury—Steven James

Firm boosts London IP capability with high-profile technology sector hire

Clarke Willmott—Michelle Seddon

Clarke Willmott—Michelle Seddon

Private client specialist joins as partner in Taunton office

DWF—Rory White-Andrews

DWF—Rory White-Andrews

Finance and restructuring offering strengthened by partner hire in London

NEWS
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB) continues to stir controversy across civil litigation, according to NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School—AKA ‘The insider’
SRA v Goodwin is a rare disciplinary decision where a solicitor found to have acted dishonestly avoided being struck off, says Clare Hughes-Williams of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) imposed a 12-month suspension instead, citing medical evidence and the absence of harm to clients
In their latest Family Law Brief for NLJ, Ellie Hampson-Jones and Carla Ditz of Stewarts review three key family law rulings, including the latest instalment in the long-running saga of Potanin v Potanina
The Asian International Arbitration Centre’s sweeping reforms through its AIAC Suite of Rules 2026, unveiled at Asia ADR Week, are under examination in this week's NLJ by John (Ching Jack) Choi of Gresham Legal
In this week's issue of NLJ, Yasseen Gailani and Alexander Martin of Quinn Emanuel report on the High Court’s decision in Skatteforvaltningen (SKAT) v Solo Capital Partners LLP & Ors [2025], where Denmark’s tax authority failed to recover £1.4bn in disputed dividend tax refunds
back-to-top-scroll