Shaping the Impact of Generative AI on The Development of Employability and Professional Ethics in Legal Education

Since the emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT, Bard (now Gemini) and DALL-E, global discussions on the future of academia, students, and employability increased dramatically. Many global Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) appeared to have been taken by the speed and enthusiasm with which students have engaged with this technology. The summer of 2023 saw the start of a continuing move to amend and revise existing academic frameworks to make them suitable for an AI-empowered student body.

Academic views on the topic vary from the wholly negative (students will use AI to cheat) to the wholly positive (GenAI is simply the next step in the evolution of academia. These extremes, and the more moderate views between them, will shape how individual HEIs and how the sector as a whole moves over the next few years. Will assessments revert to the traditional closed-book memory tests of the past, or will we play to our undeniable strengths and design novel, yet rigorous, assessments which embrace AI?

This paper looks at what the profession is doing in relation to the technology. These are the firms who will be employing our graduates, and employability is a key theme in 21st century academic. Many legal businesses are embracing GenAI as a tool to write reports, carry out research, and free employee time for different tasks. Other companies are starting to use GenAI to produce advertising strategies, generate innovative building designs, and so on. GenAI use has become as ubiquitous as Internet use.

This paper, which is part of a wider project looking at GenAI and Employability, focuses on how law schools can future-proof graduate employability by identifying and embracing the appropriate ethical uses of GenAI in learning, teaching and assessment