Legalweek 2025: How AI is transforming legal training for young attorneys

The legal industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by advances in generative AI. This technology is not only streamlining workflows but also reshaping how lawyers think, learn and deliver value to their clients. As AI technology becomes more prevalent in the legal sector, law firms and schools need to adapt their training programs to ensure young attorneys are equipped with traditional, foundational legal skills as well as the ability to leverage AI effectively.

A Verbit-hosted panel discussion at Legalweek 2025 explored the evolving role of AI in legal education and the strategies needed to prepare future legal professionals. Hosted by JP Son, Verbit’s Chief Legal Officer, the panel featured legal experts Nikki Shaver, CEO and co-founder of Legal Tech Hub, Alicia Hawley, Of Counsel at K&L Gates, Abdi Shayesteh, CEO of AltaClaro, and Evan Shenkman, Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer at Fisher Phillips.

The shift toward AI technology in law

The legal field has seen continuous advancements in technology, from online legal research to contract automation. And while each new development has altered how attorneys work, generative AI is unique in its ability to engage with natural language, requiring a deeper understanding of prompting, accuracy and potential biases. Unlike previous legal technologies that firms administered and updated periodically, generative AI requires constant adaptation, making ongoing training essential.

“The legal industry has seen major technological shifts, but some people would say that generative AI is different,” said Son. “It doesn’t just streamline tasks or make them more efficient, it fundamentally reshapes the way lawyers think, train and add value.”

Shaver said that AI and AI-driven workflows aren’t necessarily new to the legal industry, but noted that generative AI is different because the technology does requires a deeper understanding in order to use it properly.

“Lawyers, in order to get the best results from using it, need to understand how to prompt,” she said. “They need to understand what’s happening under the hood, they need to understand why hallucinations happen, the circumstances in which they are most likely to happen, and how to mitigate for that.”

The growing need for AI education

The panelists noted that as AI tools continue to become a staple in legal practice, law schools and law firms will need to incorporate AI education into their curricula.

“It’s the most powerful technology we’ve ever seen, without a doubt,” said Shenkman. “With every other legal technology that we want to train our attorneys on, we would get into a solution or new tool, train our attorneys on it and now we’re good for the next year-and-a-half or two years or three years because we already trained them. With this, it’s changing literally weekly. So it changes the paradigm of how we have to go about training our attorneys to use these tools responsibly, and also how to be…successful attorneys in five, ten, 15, 30, 50 years from now.”

Shaver noted that understanding the technical aspects of AI is crucial for lawyers to use it effectively.

“I think the most important thing to recognize is this is continuing to evolve,” she said. “So it’s not a flash in the pan. This is not ‘we did it, we did our job, we educated our lawyers on AI and therefore they’re good to go.’ It’s changing so quickly that the complication, I think, for the legal industry, and, frankly, all industries, is this is an ongoing organic training program that you will need to add to your professional development programs. It’s something that is here to stay for the foreseeable future in terms of what people will need to know.”

Shayesteh emphasized that education in AI is not just for younger attorneys but attorneys across the board.

“It’s not just the new generation of lawyers that we have to train, it’s all of our legal professionals in a holistic way,” said Shayesteh. “Targeting them by role, targeting them by experience ─ I think that those firms who are going in that direction are getting it right.”

When a new tool or technology is deployed, Shenkman said that his firm trains lawyers on all aspects of the tech – its proper use, where it should be used, where it shouldn’t be used – and collaborates with legal tech vendors as well.

“We also have the vendors for each of these tools do the training because they’re the pros at their tools,” he said. “So if we’re deploying, which we did with Verbit, we have the Verbit folks training our people on how to use the product.

“We also have a policy, as you all should have a policy. We’re now on the fourth iteration of our AI/Gen AI use policy because it keeps changing. And when it when that happens, we have to roll out a new policy and train people on that and remind them what they need to do and how they need to get client approval for this and that.”

Bridging the gap between AI and traditional legal skills

The panel stressed that although AI can be an invaluable tool, young attorneys must also develop critical thinking and foundational legal skills and be able to blend traditional legal training with AI-powered workflows. For example, the panel suggested that legal research and contract review could be taught both manually and with AI assistance to help attorneys understand the nuances of each approach.

Additionally, legal education should integrate learning directly into the tools attorneys will use in practice. For example, training programs could focus on how AI-driven tools, such as Verbit’s legal transcription solutions and AI-powered deposition insights, can enhance case preparation while ensuring accuracy and compliance.

Shayesteh said that while it’s important that attorneys learn how to do due diligence or document review via technology, they also need to understand what actual document review and due diligence entails in an analog, non-digital world so that they can think critically about the results generated by AI tools.

Shenkman pointed out the important difference between a lawyer using an AI tool for research in the office versus the skill set that one needs arguing a motion before a judge in a live court setting.

“There are certain things that, at least for now, lawyers are going to have to use their human brains, exclusively, and we still need to train them or prepare them for that,” said Shenkman. “If you’re helping a client at their plant or their workplace or their house and you need to say, ‘well, that’s a great question, hold on a second, let me go and ask my tool’ then you’re going to lose credibility. There is still a great amount that lawyers need their lawyer brains for.”

Law students’ shifting attitudes toward AI

While some law students may have approached AI with skepticism, unsure of its implications for legal practice, the panel said that attitudes have shifted significantly, with students now eager to learn how to leverage AI responsibly. This shift reflects a growing recognition that AI proficiency will be a valuable skill in the legal profession and today’s legal educators are incorporating AI into coursework, requiring students use it in assignments and analyze its role in legal writing and research.

“Artificial intelligence is quite literally everywhere,” said Hawley, an adjunct professor at Loyola University Law. “If you have a smartphone, it’s part of our daily lives. And so people are now accustomed to using it in some way personally. And so it’s also then leaking over into our professional lives.

“Everybody wants to learn about this. And the students are already using AI every day and they’re so curious and they want to know how to use it defensibly and they want to know how to validate it. They understand because they’ve been using technology since they were, you know, five years old. They understand some of the inherent limitations, I think, perhaps, better than people who haven’t had that as part of their upbringing or childhood. And they are critical ambassadors for this technology.”

Shaver, an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School, said she saw the changing attitudes on AI technologies firsthand.

“I started asking my Cardozo class on the first day, ‘how do you feel about the idea of using AI in your legal practice?’ and for the first three years, even in 2023, the overwhelming response was fear and uncertainty,” she said. “And, interestingly, last year is the first time every single person in the class was there because they were excited about the use of AI in legal practice. They expected to use it and they saw it as the future. So they were in the class because they recognized that in order to thrive as future lawyers, they had to be leveraging generative AI. So, I think, incoming associates…are going to come to your firms or your organizations not just ready to use AI, but really keen to use AI.”

Preparing young attorneys for an AI-driven future

As AI continues to shape legal practice, the next generation of attorneys must balance technological proficiency with core legal knowledge. Training programs should emphasize both the practical applications of AI and the ethical considerations surrounding its use. By combining AI-driven efficiencies with human expertise, law firms can create a workforce that is adaptable, skilled and prepared to navigate the evolving legal landscape.

Verbit is committed to supporting legal professionals by providing AI-powered solutions that enhance efficiency and accuracy. From real-time legal transcription to AI-driven insights during depositions, Verbit’s innovative tools allow attorneys to focus on strategy while reducing administrative burdens. As the legal industry continues to embrace AI, Verbit remains at the forefront, helping firms and law schools equip the next generation of legal professionals for success.

Click here to read more about Legalweek 2025 as well as our key takeaways from the event.