VAILL

Sharing a fun little lunch session I'll be doing at Vanderbilt University Law School, next week, on Monday, March 27. I'll be sharing what's on my mind and speculating about the future, talking about Kurzweil and sci-fi movies, as usual. I'll be asking lots of questions of the law students. What are their hopes and dreads for their futures, things of that nature... Anything else I should poll the room for?

?? CALLING ALL LEGAL PROFESSIONALS! ?? ?? H A C K I N G P R O B O N O ?? is happening on April 12 at Vanderbilt Law School. Produced by VAILL students and faculty, this inaugural one-day event will respond to the challenge: How might we leverage generative AI to scale pro bono legal service beyond the traditional 1:1 model, making it more accessible, efficient, and impactful? If you're a legal professional and wondering if this event is for you, and *what's in it* for you, wonder no more. See the ROI for legal professionals brief below ?? AND, the website has just launched — see comments for ?? ! Find more information, including the full Challenge Brief and registration link on the website: hackingprobono<dot>org!

VAILL team members Mark Williams, Emily Pavuluri, and Kyle Turner contributed to this industry-first benchmark project. From the executive summary: "This first-of-its-kind study evaluates how four legal AI tools perform across seven legal tasks, benchmarking their results against those produced by a lawyer control group (the Lawyer Baseline). The seven tasks evaluated in this study were Data Extraction, Document Q&A, Document Summarization, Redlining, Transcript Analysis, Chronology Generation, and EDGAR Research, representing a range of functions commonly performed by legal professionals. The evaluated tools were CoCounsel (from Thomson Reuters), Vincent AI (from vLex), Harvey Assistant (from Harvey), and Oliver (from Vecflow). Lexis+AI (from LexisNexis) was initially evaluated but withdrew from the sections studied in this report." See below for ??

Extra shout-out to VAILL team members Emily Pavuluri and Kyle Turner for their contributions to this project!

?? Calling all changemakers! ?? The justice gap is massive: 260 million legal problems arise each year in the U.S., and over half go unresolved. For low-income individuals, the numbers are even worse—only 8% of legal issues get professional help. We know traditional pro bono alone can’t bridge this gap. But what if technology could help multiply our impact? ?? Enter HACKING PRO BONO. ?? On Saturday, April 12, 2025, we’re bringing together lawyers, legal aid leaders, technologists, access to justice advocates, and anyone who’s experienced the legal system firsthand to tackle one big challenge: ?? How can AI and technology supercharge pro bono legal services? ?? This is NOT your typical legal event. It’s a high-energy, solution-driven hackathon where: ? Teams will collaborate to build innovative solutions. ?? Legal and tech professionals will join forces to rethink pro bono delivery. ?? No coding skills? No problem! We need diverse minds to make an impact. ?? The best ideas will help real people get the legal help they need. ?? How to get involved: ? Register your interest now - link in comments! ? Form a team or join one at the event. ? Help reimagine access to justice! Let’s stop talking about the justice gap and start building real solutions. Who’s in? ??♀???♂? #LegalTech #AccessToJustice #A2J #HackingProBono #AIforGood #ProBono #ProBonoInnovation #JusticeForAll

ICYMI, on the new VAILL Substack *The AI of Law* we've just featured a series of short "AI manifestos" by lab practicum students. Each of the six manifestos offers bite-size insight for law students and legal professionals alike on how to approach genAI. This month we're launching another new thing on the Substack and we think you're going to like it. ?? You can check out *The AI of Law* and follow along here: https://lnkd.in/eJM79DU5

What can we learn about AI and the practice of law from *students*? A LOT. Because law students are super-curious, uber-creative, and haven't yet "assimilated." ?? Check out Ellie Olson's advice in post no. 1 of our series! See comments for link, or check your inbox if you subscribed to The AI of Law.

Starting today, we're sharing a series of manifestos, written by law students for law students. We're calling it "AI goes to law school," and believe us when we say: these students understand more about the impact of AI on the legal profession than many (most?) practicing lawyers. Follow along and learn from the students! https://lnkd.in/dDpW9Gfc

We've seen the LLM-aggregation platform Poe popping up in posts around here and knew we hit on something when we built it into Day 9 of Exploring GenAI. ?? Poe is a great way to experiment across GenAI tools and get a good feel for which tools work best for what purposes, and for your specific goals and preferences. Check out Day 9 (it's a great stand-alone lesson) or dive into the entire 10-day journey with us. Link to all the lessons on the VAILL Substack, The AI of Law, in the comments ??

??? We're cruising right along in our exploration of GenAI! Day 8: Advanced Prompting Techniques ?? just dropped. Only 2 more days to go, and this first e-course will be a wrap. ?? The good news: You can take the course anytime, at your convenience. All 10 days will live on the VAILL Substack, The AI of Law. ?? See link to Day 0 of Exploring GenAI with VAILL in the comments. We're adding links to this post for each day's lesson as it drops so you can follow along anytime. Expect to see new learning opportunities around AI for legal professionals in 2025!