Generative AI has sparked debates about the future of lawyering. While some see it as a threat to legal practice, others believe it could accelerate lawyers’ performance of time-intensive tasks like research and drafting and sharpen their focus on understanding and addressing clients’ needs. Clinicians, as leaders in client-centered lawyering, are uniquely positioned to explore whether generative AI can truly enhance client-centeredness and how to balance the opportunities and challenges these tools present.
This 60-minute session will critically assess the potential of generative AI to advance client-centered practices while identifying essential skills that cannot be outsourced to machines (yet), such as empathy, relationship-building, and commitment to righting systemic injustices. Attendees will also develop strategies for teaching students to engage with AI ethically and effectively, in ways that allow us to enhance these human aspects of lawyering.
The session will begin with an overview of the implications of generative AI for client-centered lawyering. Facilitators will highlight the dual potential of these tools to either enhance or hinder the client-lawyer relationship. The next section will focus on two exercises using generative AI tools, using them in one case for non-client-facing legal work and in the other to facilitate students’ interactions with clients. After each exercise, participants will discuss the pros and cons of using AI for such tasks as a group. The session will conclude by inviting participants to share insights, reactions, and approaches for integrating AI into clinical education while maintaining the values of client-centeredness.
By the end of this session, participants will leave with actionable ideas for engaging students with AI in ways that preserve and enhance the human connections at the heart of legal practice.