Emerging Artificial Intelligence Applications in Legal Language and Profession: The Imperative and Caveats of the Technology and the Role of Legal Education

Abstract

Legal education is conventionally aligned to the veracities of the legal profession but limited in providing allied skills in interdisciplinary fields involving language and technology. The proposed paper aims to identify the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in fulfilling the needs of legal language and practice and assess whether law school curriculum and pedagogies are sufficiently responsive to the emerging opportunities. After reviewing prominent AI applications in law, the paper traces its identified pitfalls to determine the pathways to balance between the perceived risks and benefits. The paper examines the contemporary pedagogic underpinnings of AI in legal education curricula to critique the conventional dogma among law schools and calls for the need to cultivate interdisciplinary traits involving law, language and AI. The paper makes a comparative review of the response of the legal education programs in selective jurisdictions and assesses the co-relation and resulting implications of the policies of the local law societies and bar associations. The paper finally argues the nexus between the emerging directives from the judicial and arbitral institutions regarding AI usage in their respective forums and the responsiveness (or the lack of it) among legal educators. The paper calls for a more cohesive affirmative action encompassing diverse stakeholders in individual jurisdictions to adapt and harness AI technology, language and legal education.