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06 October 2023 / Jo-Anne Pugh
Issue: 8043 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Separating hype from reality—the impact of AI on legal training

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

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Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

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NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
A polished legal defence may owe more to artificial intelligence than legal merit—and creditors risk paying the price in delay and expense
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
Possession claims are entering a new digital era, with procedural traps awaiting practitioners who assume familiar rules still govern every step
The Environment Agency can prosecute offences beyond environmental legislation where proceedings support its statutory functions, the Divisional Court has confirmed
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