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

06 October 2023 / Jo-Anne Pugh
Issue: 8043 / Categories: Features , Profession
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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

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NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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