What Law Students Should Know About Generative AI Before Their Summer Jobs

Legal Tech News:  What Law Students Should Know About Generative AI Before Their Summer Jobs, by Nick Hafen (BYU):

For law school students preparing to start their summer jobs, internships, externships and clerkships, now is the time to get up to speed on the latest in legal technology: generative AI (GenAI).

Your employer may be excited about, opposed to, or oblivious to this relatively new and rapidly evolving technology. In any of those cases, you can impress your employer and distinguish yourself from other job candidates by being familiar with the basics of GenAI technology, how it can empower legal professionals and potential hazards to watch out for. ...

GenAI is bound to affect the legal industry because it excels at processing information and navigating complexity—core legal skills. It’s tempting to focus on the ways GenAI will replace work done by lawyers. But in my AI class and student training at BYU Law, I’ve emphasized how lawyers use GenAI to do more, and to do it faster, better, and cheaper, resulting in a better experience for both lawyers and clients. Law students should spend less time worrying about the Terminator and more time learning to become Iron Man.

Start getting familiar with it now so you can not only satisfy your professional responsibility obligations but set yourself apart from others. With the technology advancing so quickly, even modest efforts will have outsized payoffs this summer and for the rest of your career.