A major survey by LexisNexis and ALITA of the Asia-Pacific region unearthed plenty of data, but one aspect that stood out is the demand for change in legal education because of AI. One key finding is that only 15% of the sample of lawyers wanted law schools to stay the same, (see table below)
Just under three-quarters said there needed to be changes to legal education to ‘better train future lawyers in AI’ – and this is when other surveys have shown most students already use general tools such as ChatGPT. I.e. they want to learn specifically about AI’s application to the law.
Respondents also wanted to see law schools help ‘upskill current lawyers’ – which suggests that some of the law firms in the region are not doing so. And this idea was repeated in the suggestion that law schools should help firms develop curricula for legal AI training.
The report authors, which included Professor Brian Tang in Hong Kong, commented: ‘The academic sector is poised for significant transformation as AI reshapes education more generally, as well as in response to evolving industry workplace needs. Law schools across the Asia-Pacific region have a critical role to play in preparing future lawyers for this new AI era.
‘Traditional teaching models are widely seen as insufficient. Only 15% of respondents believe that customary approaches should be maintained, while a strong majority (74%) support curriculum reform. There is a need to integrate AI literacy, legal technology, ethics and interdisciplinary learning, ensuring that graduates are equipped to have the mindset and skillset to thrive in a rapidly evolving legal landscape. Notably, corporate in-house lawyer respondents are even stronger advocates of reform, with 85% endorsing curriculum changes, compared to 70% of law firm lawyers.’
Overall, a clear sense of demand here for more and better training on AI. One question remains however: are law schools best placed to provide this training?
One of the challenges law schools have always had is that they teach the law, not necessarily how to be a great commercial lawyer. To get the most out of AI tools one needs to be focused on the use case. In turn, do law schools have the know-how internally to, for example, show students how to apply a range of AI tools to a private equity fund formation project? Or, how genAI tools for eDiscovery operate in a different way to more traditional NLP machine learning systems?
The answer is: probably not. Not unless those law schools can bring in experts from law firms and inhouse teams to help with these specific applications of AI.
That said, some law schools – take Stanford in California – do work closely with law firms and legal tech vendors to provide insights into real world use cases. And that is perhaps the way to go. We cannot expect a professor in legal ethics to suddenly become an expert in how to prompt effectively during an M&A deal.
But, as noted, law schools can become centres of excellence for legal AI use.….if they work closely with those who are experts in this field, i.e. the tech companies and those law firms that have built large innovation teams to deploy such technology.
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And….if this was interesting, then please come along to: Are Lawyers Learning AI Fast Enough? – Free Webinar – Sept 23.
LexisNexis, in partnership with Artificial Lawyer, is hosting a new, live webinar on a very timely subject: Are lawyers learning AI expertise fast enough? The webinar on Sept 23 will include Lucía Elizalde Bulanti, Director of Behavioural Innovation at Dechert, and Alistair Wye, Director of Innovation & AI at White & Case. Artificial Lawyer will chair the panel discussion.
The event is free to join, but please RSVP.
‘Adapt or Lag: Are Lawyers Learning AI Fast Enough?‘
Tuesday 23 September – 14:00 BST, 09:00 EST
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Also: Legal Innovators Conferences in London and New York – November ’25
If you’d like to stay ahead of the legal AI curve then come along to Legal Innovators New York, Nov 19 + 20 and also, Legal Innovators UK – Nov 4 + 5 + 6, where the brightest minds will be sharing their insights on where we are now and where we are heading.
Legal Innovators UK arrives first, with: Law Firm Day on Nov 4th, then Inhouse Day, on the 5th, and then our new Litigation Day on the 6th.
Both events, as always, are organised by the Cosmonauts team!
Please get in contact with them if you’d like to take part.
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