Day 5: The Role of the Lawyer in 2050
What is the best way to teach lawyers not only for next year but for a generation from now? What will the law school Class of 2024 need to be prepared for in the next 10, 20, 30 years that will define their law careers?
AI and the Future of Lawyering
For at least a century, lawyers have been taught to be primarily information processors. When I was in law school, we still looked up conflicting precedent in big heavy books using index headings. Now that’s done on computer using search terms and the press of a button. It’s quicker, but still requires basically the same cognitive process in the lawyer to collect, process, and prepare the information for the intended audience (client, judge, jury, legislator, regulator, etc.).
We don’t know what the future will look like, but we know for sure that AI will radically change information processing, and therefore lawyering. What will the role of the lawyer be when my students are my age?
There’s no way to know - but there is a way to prepare.
The Entrepreneurship Method
The entrepreneurship method is not a process, with predictable inputs and outputs. It’s a method, relying heavily on design thinking. It’s not about learning the technical tools of business - that’s management. It’s not even about learning how to find that first investment (though that can be part of it).
It’s learning how to empathize. How to spot a problem that many people share. How to brainstorm myriad possible solutions. How to identify a solution to the problem that could be effective, affordable, desirable, and scalable. How to develop and critique and refine that idea. How to learn from and partner with others who will bring their unique insights and resources to it. How to fail early, respond productively, pivot, and move forward. How to be resilient when change occurs (because it will).
Can lawyers in the AI generation afford not to know the entrepreneurship method?