Ed. note: This article first appeared in an ILTA publication.
Artificial intelligence is more than the latest new tool to land on lawyers’ desks. This time feels different from earlier waves of technology. Just as the internet started as a novelty and became essential infrastructure, AI is now leading us to another platform shift. It is not a discrete product, but a new layer that shapes how nearly every legal task is, or can be, performed.
As someone who teaches and serves as a member of the Vanderbilt Artificial Intelligence Law Lab (VAILL), I have the privilege of helping prepare the next generation for our profession. VAILL has become both a model and a hub for what AI education can look like in law schools. Our work encompasses more than just training students to navigate specific platforms. We equip them with AI literacy, blending-tool awareness, general capabilities, critical thinking, ethical grounding, and adaptability. These are the skills that future lawyers and legal leaders need to thrive in legal environments undergoing unprecedented layers of rapid change.
Vanderbilt’s Approach and the Role of VAILL
Vanderbilt Law School embraced this shift through a bold commitment to create VAILL and prioritize a human-centered approach to exploring how AI intersects with law and legal education.
Through VAILL and our broader curriculum, we create and launch courses that directly address students’ needs in AI education. Our approach includes introducing them to the types of tools they are most likely to encounter in practice, exploring how generative AI is impacting and reshaping workflows, and empowering them to engage with AI as informed professionals who can confidently interact with it.
For example, one course enables students to act as decision-makers by evaluating tools, developing implementation strategies, and addressing practical challenges related to data security and firm policies. More importantly, our courses help students understand the risks and benefits and how these tools will complement their future practice more broadly.
If law schools neglect AI education now, they do their students a disservice. The myth of the “digital native” can lull us into assuming that younger generations intuitively understand technology. In reality, I regularly see students who can navigate TikTok with ease but struggle to understand why an AI tool might hallucinate legal citations or fail to grasp the ethical implications of feeding client data into ChatGPT. Law students are learning AI at the same pace as everyone else. Waiting until they arrive at a firm to figure it out may be too late. There is positive momentum as law schools rise to the occasion, with an increase in AI-related courses each year.
Defining AI Literacy
When I teach my students about AI literacy, I emphasize that it extends beyond knowing which buttons to click on the latest drafting assistant or research bot. True literacy encompasses understanding the foundational concepts behind the technology, the ability to evaluate outputs, the ability to adapt to evolving tools, and awareness of the ethical and professional duties that accompany its use.
Our students will go on to work in various settings, but we want them to have a clear picture of the role technology will play wherever they land. What I’ve learned is that AI literacy is about understanding a tool’s place in workflows, anticipating risks, and imagining new possibilities. Once we know what is possible, strategic thinking becomes more accessible. Our students are poised to spot the “possible” and serve as voices of innovation.
Embracing Students’ Uncertainty Boosts Engagement
When students talk about using AI, their reactions often mirror those of the profession: a mix of skepticism, anxiety, and curiosity. Some are understandably concerned. After all, they’re investing three years and substantial tuition in legal education, only to read headlines predicting that AI will automate their job away. We are happy to help temper those fears.
But what strikes me most is that those skeptical students are also the ones who voluntarily enroll in our courses and engage deeply. Our goal is not to produce AI advocates, but rather to cultivate future lawyers who can think critically about when and how to deploy these tools effectively. Students want to understand what lies ahead rather than fear it. Education becomes the antidote to uncertainty.
We also hear regularly from students returning from summer jobs that AI is present at their firms, but often without clear policies, structured training, or consistent implementation. That lack of guidance can leave young lawyers unsure of how to contribute or engage responsibly. By equipping them with frameworks for evaluating tools and understanding ethical obligations, we prepare them not just to use AI but to lead conversations about its role in practice.
Law Students as Future Leaders
That leadership will hopefully emerge sooner than we might expect. Our students are being exposed to AI literacy in ways that graduates just a few years ago never were. This positions them to step into meaningful roles in firm innovation and governance much earlier in their careers.
I do not subscribe to the belief that AI will reduce the need for new associates. Who will become senior associates and partners if we cut off the pipeline? Instead, I view AI as an opportunity to reframe what early practice looks like. Rather than spending their first years bogged down in repetitive but necessary tasks, associates will be able to focus earlier on rewarding intellectual work.
In some ways, this may help students become better lawyers more quickly. This shift could accelerate their growth by channeling their energy toward the uniquely human aspects of practice, such as strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and nuanced client advice. They will still learn the fundamentals, but without being defined by rote work that technology can now handle. That is a profound shift in how lawyers receive on-the-job training.
I hope that partners understand and adapt to this change, engaging new associates in ways different from the past. We have long operated under the principle of “doing more with less,” but AI flips that script for new associates, enabling them to learn more substantive skills with less time spent on repetitive tasks.
Looking five to ten years ahead, I envision law schools empowering students to innovate in ways that were previously impossible. For the first time, non-technical students can imagine, design, and even create tools that serve their practice or their clients. I am already seeing students prototype simple legal workflows using no-code platforms or design AI-assisted client intake processes. AI is lowering the barriers to innovation in law, and that should excite us all.
A Shared Mission
If I could leave readers with one message, it would be this: preparing the next generation of AI-literate lawyers is not a solo mission. Law schools around the country are doing their part, but the journey requires collaboration with firms, technologists, and professional organizations to fully realize its potential. Our goal is not to graduate students who know how to use one tool, but rather to produce professionals who can lead in a world where technology will constantly change and prove essential for competent representation. Firms should continually educate their employees through clear policies, practical training, and an environment that fosters openness to exploration and experimentation.
At VAILL, we are committed to equipping students not just to survive in an AI-enabled profession, but to shape it.
And for those already in practice, the lesson is clear: be open to learning from the newest members of your teams. Their AI literacy will help your firm navigate the changes ahead.
T. Kyle Turner is the Assistant Director of Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives at Vanderbilt Law School, where he is a member of the Vanderbilt Artificial Intelligence Law Lab (VAILL). His work focuses on legal technology, AI literacy, and preparing students and practitioners to engage with AI ethically and effectively.
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