Figuring out how to train young lawyers in the AI era feels like Churchill’s description of Russia: “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
NYU’s Clay Shirky argues that students are taking shortcuts with AI despite the best efforts to make it a learning partner. His solution is to go back to in-class assessments, oral exams, and real-time demonstrations of knowledge.
For law schools, this should be somewhat familiar territory with the use of the Socratic method. The problem is that many law school professors may have moved more to a lecture style teaching Shirky says doesn’t work.
In addition, if Shirky is right, law firms need to double down on mentorship and hands-on training that can’t be done exclusively with AI. That takes time and investment in the long term.
Here’s a link to my Above the Law post discussing these very points.