AI In Legal Education

Speaker: William Hubbard (Deputy Dean, Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics, The University of Chicago)

Abstract: Much of the legal profession’s concerns about AI focus on hallucinations, bias, or job displacement. We argue that the greater peril of AI lies elsewhere. AI’s ease of use and speed at completing tasks undermines the effortful work that is critical for law students to develop analytical rigor and professional judgment. Drawing on empirical research and cognitive science, we propose strategies for law schools and law firms to preserve the profession’s talent pipeline. We reject simplistic bans on AI use; rather, we see the disruption caused by AI as an opportunity for the profession to reinvent how it develops lawyers.

William H. J. Hubbard received his JD with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was executive editor of the Law Review. He clerked for the Hon. Patrick E. Higginbotham of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He practiced law as a litigation associate at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago where he specialized in commercial litigation, electronic discovery, and appellate practice. His current research primarily involves economic analysis of litigation, courts, and civil procedure.

Commentators:

• Daniel Seng (Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore)
• Jakob Merane (Senior Research Associate, ETH Center for Law & Economics)
• Benjamin Chen (Associate Professor & Director of Law and Technology Centre, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong)

To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=107571.

For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at mcgrace@hku.hk / 3917 4727.