AI Course/Certification for Lawyers
Attention to all lawyers and legal professionals looking for a great AI foundation that won't break the bank. There are very few courses out there, most of them are not very good, and the best ones will have you selling your home to be able to afford them. To accommodate everyone, I've covered a range of different courses, and have pointed out what you have to look out for. You don't want a free course or cheap course that doesn't cover much or is too basic to the point that you'll have to pay for more courses to cover gaps in your knowledge. You also don't want to spend a fortune on a course with outdated information that you could have gotten at a fraction of the cost. So, I'll try to give a balanced recommendation based on the best courses out there.
Free Guide Everyone Should Read Regardless of the course you take.
Clio has great FREE guides on AI for lawyers and they tend to update them regularly. Take a look at this one here, read this guide before you enroll in any course mentioned in this post. This guide will give you a comprehensive introduction to all things AI and law, including new technologies like ChatGPT4. Clio has a collection of great articles on AI and law like this one on 'Transforming your legal practice with AI'. After your course you may want to have Clio's resources tab saved under favorites for future reference.
A quick but important side note when considering sources for your lawtech education, make sure that you are learning from companies who are in the legaltech field. If you attend courses offered by educational institutions that don't have 'skin in the game', e.g. have a lawtech company or teachers in the business, you run the risk of learning mainly theoretical stuff, outdated stuff, or learning from people who don't have a broad industry-wide perspective that comes with having skin in the game. A company like Clio which operates in the case management field will likely give you an unbiased opinion on other sectors of the legaltech industry like contract review software. After all, these companies are always looking for opportunities within the legaltech space, they are watching their competitors and they are always trying to provide value.
Udemy - $13 course
If you are looking for an affordable course that will give you a solid foundation, then check out this Udemy course called 'Legal Tech and AI for lawyers, law students, and professionals'. Please note that I'm not affiliated with any of the course that I mention in this post, nor do I receive any compensation from the course providers. This course is wonderful and I think the reviews speak for themselves. The course has 82, 4.2 star ratings. What I like about this course is that it doesn't just give you the theory side of lawtech, but it also looks into the latest and best tools out there that are being used by attorneys around the world.
You will learn about legal software, eDiscovery software, legal chatbots, the intersection of data science and law, smart contracts, and more. Check out the course here!
Oxford - AI University Foundations
If you want to attend a short course that comes with a certificate from an accredited body, then this one is for you. It's a six-week course offered by the law department at Oxford University. The course provides a 'firm grasp on the technical, legal, and ethical foundations of artificial intelligence' as they put it. I've been on the waiting list for this course for the longest time so I can't promise you immediate entry into this course. I also have a suspicion that this course is not yet available to non-Oxford students, but may be rolled out to the public in the future, so stay tuned for an update on that. I'm keen on enrolling in this course for obvious reasons, so I'll definitely keep you updated. In terms of cost, their prospectus says 'The cost to participants will be announced in early 2024, when we will launch the module for registration by individuals." If you want to enroll in a course immediately then check out Berkeley's program below.
Berkeley Law - Generative AI for the Legal Profession
An alternative to the Oxford course is the 'AI and Law; program offered by Berkeley Law. They describe their program as "A Comprehensive Crash Course Designed For All Legal Professionals." If you take a look at their syllabus, you'll find that they are offering a comprehensive AI and Law education. This course is a great introduction to your AI & law career. It's a five-hour course that gives you all the core principles you need to know and to get you started. A bonus is that you'll have a certificate from an accredited University to prove your expertise. In terms of cost, I think it's not too expensive, but it's also not cheap. For attorneys, it will cost you $800, and for non-attorneys, it will cost you $560. The good news is that if you are lucky enough to know 9 other people who want to attend the course, then you can enroll as a group and get a 30% discount.
Practising Law Institute - Artificial Intelligence Law 2024
This course is quite expensive, costing a whopping $1,495.00 for the on-demand video. I'm assuming that it's expensive because it's 13 hours long, and has many qualified speakers teaching on the course. That said, I still think that it's a great course for someone who wants to practice law in the AI sector and earn CLE credits in the process. For the attorney who wants to know what leading AI tools are out there that they can use in their practice, this one may not be for you. You'll be getting way more than what you need.
Ultimately there are two types of legaltech courses on the market. On the one hand, you have theory-heavy courses, and on the other hand, you have practical courses which the general attorney would benefit from greatly. Be sure to scrutinize a course's syllabus before enrolling to ensure that you aren't purchasing an outdated course. Course providers have a habit of 'refurbishing' courses. This means that they will record a course once and will keep selling it every year without updating the contents to include the latest developments. To be honest, you'll get from a cheaper course what you'll get from an expensive course. Regardless of which course you choose, you will still have to supplement your learning with further research. But if you want to practice in the field of AI or get a job at a legaltech company you will have to save up money to enroll in a course offered by an accredited body because employers respond positively to those.
Take care,
The Legal Engineer.