dd 16 - law

[BodenOrBodum]

Dd wants to do Law at university. She is very academic and predicted excellent GCSEs. I know next to nothing about the law profession but would like to help improve her chances to get a place at a good university. She is a passionate reader, loves politics and history and has a strong sense of social justice. While very academic and high achieving she is going through a quite insecure phase and lacks confidence in herself.

I am aware there is the LNAt test, which she might need to take. When should she start practicing for this, and how does she best prepare for this? Is there an app, books? When does she sign up for the LNAt and how?

Are there any courses to prepare prospective applicants to improve chances of getting a place on a reputable law course as there are for medicine and other subjects? Doing an internships seems impossible, she tried and was turned down in year 10. She will be looking for a part-time job in the summer after her GCSEs, are there any type of jobs altho would be looks at favourably?

I have seen ads for summer schools most of which cost £££ - are there any more affordable type of law summer school courses and are the any good'? We do not qualify for any widening participation type of schemes.

I think you need to learn to use AI!

No intention of doing that! I prefer real people with their advice and experience. I’ve already seen total inaccurate rubbish on AI.

@OhDear111 Fine - you admit that you haven't got a clue what you are talking about!

Neither do you as you aren’t working in a legal role with clients. Dd is.

@OhDear111 I am working as a lawyer, dealing directly with clients and having to strategise and deliver specialist advice (litigation partner).

I use AI every single day. It is a partner working alongside me. It is better, quicker, cheaper and more useful than many of our associates. We are looking at taking fewer trainees as a result.

I am also constantly receiving enquiries and instructions from clients who have used AI to improve their thinking / drafting. Many clients expressly expect me to use AI to deliver cost efficiencies.

@Ceramiq is absolutely right: you are being extremely naive if you think that AI is not going to decimate job opportunities and career progression in the legal sector.

DD is a barrister. I look forward to AI in court.

Who do you think will write the skeleton? Prepare the advice? Review witness statements? Prepare xx?

In the future many cases won’t get that far because of AI. Your dd will tell you that.

Really? It makes warring people agree with each other? How?

If you were a lawyer you would understand how it will work

At some point @OhDear111 disputes will be resolved by AI agents presenting electronic arguments to each other and either identifying a solution between themselves or putting it to an AI judge. It already happens in insurance and blockchain disputes.

And the broader point, in the short term before that technology has developed, is that there will be a far lesser need for junior-mid level barristers and law firm associates to do the underlying work and analysis. The senior bod fronting the case (whether to clients or the court) will have their prep work done by AI agents. The market will contract dramatically.

You are also focussing almost exclusively on the court scenario (and family law, which is an even smaller chunk of the market). That’s only a fraction of the legal work being done. All those corporate deals, property transactions, wills, regulatory issues are capable of being run largely via AI. There will be thousands and thousands of job losses.

@NoelEdmondsHairGel Not sure it produces the best results for the client though. You do know there’s a little thing called law and the judgement of a judge who can be persuaded! It’s not A or Z. I don’t believe our courts will be AI and I’m sticking to it. As human beings we don’t have to introduce AI in courts at all. Imagine the appeals? Law, as we know it, would grind to a halt because AI cannot have the depth of knowledge and expertise a judge has. It’s virtually impossible. Insurance just is not the same,

You are so far off the mark @OhDear111.

Agreed. It’s all a bit silly. We’re arguing with a non-lawyer who would (understandably) like to believe that her DD’s career is safe. But actually she, obviously, has no clue what she’s talking about and is unwilling to take on the views of those of us who are actually right in the middle of this revolution.

I think it is her protective instincts and fear of AI which are leading her, irrationally, to dismiss my experience: I am a senior lawyer who utilises the products she’s dismissing on a day to day basis. I also have strategic responsibilities so am involved in current plans to reduce trainee numbers, let associates and other non-fee earning staff go. It is all very real but there’s no point labouring the point if OhDear has her fingers stuck in her ears.

So you honestly believe all judges and court cases will disappear? Really?

Not all, but a lot.

Agreed.

@OhDear111 you have boiled down what I said into one single, family barrister focused proposition. Pleased see my fuller explanation for a more nuanced take.