Nick Allard at his portrait hanging ceremony, commemorating his impactful tenure at Brooklyn Law School.
Eagle file photo by Andy Katz
There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is going to change the way the legal profession operates, but it may still be too early to tell exactly how. In a recent piece, Nick Allard, the founding Randall C. Berg Jr. dean of the Jacksonville University College of Law and a former president and dean of Brooklyn Law School, discusses this transformation and its potential implications for the future of law.
Allard, who throughout his career in government service, legal practice and academia has been a key player in discussions about technology’s societal, legal and policy impacts, rightly suggests that the legal profession is at the crossroads of an AI revolution.
The former Brooklyn Law School dean describes the change in legal practice and education from manual research using “in the stacks” volumes of case reporters and statutes, to online searchable legal materials.
“No new lawyer or law student mourns the demise of assignments to manually ‘Shepardize’ cited cases,” Allard wrote, referencing the process of verifying the validity of legal precedents.
While attorneys and law schools have traditionally been slow to adapt to new technology, Allard warns that the acceleration of AI applications will necessitate faster adaptation.
“The truth is that the AI horse is already out of the barn, and the only question is how best to ride it to get to where you need to go without falling off in a ditch,” he said.
Allard suggests that understanding AI and staying informed about its legal and justice implications are becoming vital for practitioners. This includes staying current on evolving professional and legal rules applicable to AI use in practice and maintaining a level of technological competence as prescribed by the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules and various state rules.
He also discusses the…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply