New AI Clinic in Monash Law’s Legal Technology Clinics
By Dr Jacqueline Weinberg, Academic Director & Supervisor of the Legal Technology Clinic in the Monash Clinical Program
A collaboration between the Monash Clinical Program and leading law firm Lander & Rogers is putting law students at the intersection of technology and legal services. The new AI Clinic is part of a suite of Legal Technology Clinics giving Monash Law students practical experience in the legal careers of the future.
Technology is central to the rapidly evolving natures of both legal education and legal practice. Technological innovation and globalisation is rapidly changing the traditional models of legal practice, including the ways in which legal professionals interact with colleagues and clients, how they conduct legal research and how legal practices are managed. As advances in legal tech, automation and AI continue to substantially alter lawyers’ work, law graduates need to enhance the skills required for their future in the profession. Technologies such as AI and machine learning are becoming more integrated into lawyering and impacting how disputes are resolved. Therefore, how well-prepared law students are for the changes occurring in the legal market will depend on how much and how well legal education adapts to the realities of developing practices.
The Legal Technology Clinics (LTCs) in the Monash Clinical Program focus on educating law students on the intersectionality of technology and legal services. Students are provided with a foundational context about the intersection of technology and the law; with a focus on the legal technology landscape. By participating in these clinics, students not only develop the confidence to use legal technology to create innovative solutions but also an ability to adapt to the changing demands of legal practice and better appreciate the diverse careers available in law and law-related fields. The LTCs provide opportunities for students, as ‘future lawyers’, to enter legal practice with confidence in the use of previously unfamiliar technological applications. In this way, students develop the professional and practical legal skills that will help them become successful entrepreneurial lawyers, adept at integrating technology with innovative legal services.
Most recently, the AI Clinic was launched as a specially-focused clinic on the intersection of AI and legal service. In collaboration with leading law firm, Lander & Rogers, this university-industry-partnership enables clinical students to participate in the AI clinic, an initiative that combines education with practical application, enabling students to explore AI and technology's various dimensions in legal contexts. Setting a new standard for legal innovation, the AI clinic equips students with essential legal and technology skills, nurturing the next generation of legal professionals. During this clinic, students learn that although the adoption of AI presents a range of opportunities in how legal and non-legal services providers can work, students need to be aware of the risks and uncertainties around these tools. Students dive deeply into the principles and guidelines that can best equip legal practitioners with the knowledge of the ethical barriers to using AI in their work, especially as these relate to clients.
New and innovative clinic models, like these clinics are examples of the ways in which clinical legal education can impart the knowledge and skill-sets needed to empower law students to respond creatively to the opportunities and changes that technology might bring.
The video above showcases the collaboration between Lander & Rogers and the Monash Law Clinics in focusing on legal innovation, and supporting the future generation of lawyers entering into the profession to prepare for AI’s role in the legal landscape and its impact and transformative potential in legal practice.