Latest news with #Briers
Los Angeles Times
20-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Is AI a Career Threat or a Competitive Edge for Attorneys?
Why Lawyers and Firms are Racing to Become Tech Experts As artificial intelligence promises to reshape the legal profession, much of the conversation centers on which jobs will disappear. But attorneys looking to secure their future may need to flip the script: Rather than viewing AI as a threat, successful lawyers are becoming subject matter experts in the technology itself. 'To be effective counselors, attorneys working at the forefront of innovation need to understand the relevant technology at a deep level,' said Zachary M. Briers, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP focusing on complex technology and intellectual property issues. 'When it comes to technology companies, almost all difficult legal issues turn on granular distinctions in technological advancements. This is particularly true with new platform technologies, such as AI, which defy conventional legal analyses,' Briers added. This need will only increase as litigation around artificial intelligence becomes more complex, according to Nathaniel L. Bach, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. 'The more a lawsuit or advice implicates the inner workings of an AI model, the more attorneys will need to know to properly advise clients, ask the right questions of adversaries, and explain the technology to courts in both accurate and persuasive ways,' said Bach. Having more than 'a surface-level understanding' of AI may even be a matter of professional competence, said Daniel B. Garrie, a mediator, arbitrator and special master with JAMS, an alternative dispute resolution provider. He is also a founder and partner of Law & Forensics, a legal engineering firm. 'Lawyers are ethically obligated to stay abreast of technological advancements under the ABA's Model Rule 1.1, Comment 8,' said Garrie. 'A deeper comprehension of how AI systems function, including their design, data dependencies, and operational limitations, is crucial for providing competent advice, particularly in areas like eDiscovery, data privacy and intellectual property disputes,' he continued. Beyond helping to win cases and complying with ethical obligations, understanding AI could be a major career booster. David Lisson, the head of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP's GenAI litigation initiative, said that the AI space represented a big opportunity for attorneys at the start of their career - a way to stand out from the pack. 'I always think the key to a successful junior associate is being an expert in something. And this is an area that you can really dig into,' he said. 'If you come and figure out what this model is doing and how it's doing it, you'll be the one that the senior attorney comes to, right? And you'll be the one that the client comes to because you're the one that understands what's actually going on.' From a branding perspective, at least, firms appear to understand the value in highlighting the AI credentials of their attorneys. Over the past two years, a flurry of AI practice groups has emerged in California and elsewhere. But experts, including those who head up these groups, acknowledge that this strategy will need to evolve. 'This trend has begun and will continue, but these groups will almost certainly evolve to be increasingly specialized over time, as it becomes clear that 'AI' is far too broad a category to usefully define a practice,' Keith Enright, cochair of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP's Artificial Intelligence Practice Group said. Bach said that AI practice groups were both 'a necessity and a calling card' for many firms. To be effective, these groups would need to encompass practice areas spanning intellectual property, privacy and technology. 'The AI space is too big and moves too fast for any one lawyer to know everything,' he said. That's a sentiment shared by Peter H. Werner, co-chair of Cooley LLP's global emerging companies and venture capital practice group. He said that the recent emergence of AI practice groups was 'similar to having an 'internet' practice group in the 1990s.' 'Some firms are forming 'AI practice groups' to signal to the market that they're focused on AI-related things. But the ubiquity of AI and related technologies will mean that the work that is done in every practice will be impacted by AI,' he said. He added that Cooley instead has 'an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental internal task force that's intended to be a clearinghouse to coordinate our work on AI-related matters, many of which implicate multiple practices.' Briers said that while 'most major firms now have a practice group that is dedicated to AI-related issues,' it was 'not enough that a few attorneys at each firm become familiar with this disruptive technology. It needs to be a firm-wide initiative.' Attorneys who wish to become AI-literate have options. Law schools appear attuned to the fact that there will be an increasing demand for such knowledge. A 2024 survey from the American Bar Association found that more than half of respondent schools now offer classes on AI. Many of these initial efforts focus on introducing students to the appropriate and ethical use of AI tools in their practice. However, some go further: UC Berkeley, for example, will begin offering a specialization in AI law and regulation this summer as part of its executive track LLM program, including a unit on the fundamentals of AI technology. The curriculum for the new certificate was designed in consultation with an advisory group of industry leaders, including representatives from Anthropic and Meta. Other schools are offering shorter standalone graduate certificates or programs in artificial intelligence for legal practitioners, including USC Gould School of Law and Harvard Law School. Beyond these programs, attorneys with an existing science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) background might be at an advantage to their colleagues in an AI world, though legal experts disagree on the significance of this. 'The shift to AI is indeed an opportunity for attorneys with a background in computer science, data science, or engineering areas to gain a distinct advantage in understanding the nuances of AI-related legal challenges,' Garrie said. 'As AI legal work often intersects with technical fields like cybersecurity, data analytics and software licensing, firms may increasingly value and recruit legal talent with such dual credentials. This intersectional expertise enhances both client trust and legal efficacy,' he added. Clinton Ehrlich, a partner at Trial Lawyers for Justice who is a member of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Artificial Intelligence Committee and has a computer science background, said lawyers working on AI cases or issues was analogous to lawyers working in the patent space, where many attorneys have a STEM background. 'This is an area of the law where skills are required beyond those that most generalists have,' Ehrlich said. 'It doesn't mean that a generalist couldn't be involved on a team that's litigating a case involving questions about AI, but I think it's very important to have at least one team member with really deep domain knowledge of how these systems work, so that you aren't just translating everything through the medium of popular science,' he said. Others were more circumspect, emphasizing that a willingness to learn and engage was far more important than prior education experience. Werner said that attorneys 'don't necessarily need a technical degree for most things, but you need curiosity. The best lawyers are quick studies. We work with cutting edge technology and life sciences companies, using complex methodologies to do complicated things.' He predicted that as the law and technology become increasingly intertwined, we could witness 'hybrid teams of people at firms that include lawyers and technologists that collectively pitch for and deliver service to clients – think e-discovery on steroids.' According to Enright, 'Intellectual fluidity and the ability to frame questions effectively will be vastly more valuable than a STEM background.' Vivek Mohan, the other co-chair of Gibson Dunn's artificial intelligence practice, said that whenever he talks to law students and recent graduates interested in the practice area, he tells them, 'I look for ongoing, demonstrated interest. Certainly, an undergraduate degree in a related area is a strong signal of interest.' But he cautioned that an attorney's role is 'not to substitute ourselves for the engineers or AI researchers at our companies. It is to listen carefully, ask probing questions and then provide the best legal advice we can.' He added that attorneys interested in AI should get comfortable with occasionally not knowing what is going on with AI models, given even their engineers are not always able to explain how a model reached a particular answer. 'Learn what you can, but you have to be able to get comfortable with operating in an environment that carries a certain degree of uncertainty,' he advised. The other risk of overemphasizing prior education? Instilling a sense that technological stasis is acceptable, said Briers. 'An engineering background might be helpful in understanding these new technologies, but it's not necessary. In my experience, too many attorneys who lack a STEM background use it as an excuse to not learn new technological skills. They do so to the detriment of their clients' interests,' he said. The Los Angeles/San Francisco Daily Journal is a publication for lawyers practicing in California, featuring updates on the courts, regulatory changes, the State Bar and the legal community at large.
Winnipeg Free Press
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Samagalski adds new page to storied career
The rocks had to align for Derek Samagalski to remain in competitive curling next season. The 40-year-old has a lot on his plate these days, raising a young family with his wife Selena in Carberry. His two daughters, six-year-old Dekkar and one-year-old Navy, take up most of his attention, leaving him with few hours in a week to give to a full-time, travelling team. He presumed it was unlikely to find a new squad that met all his needs this late in the quadrennial. Nicole Osborne / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Derek Samagalski says he couldn't pass up the possibility of playing in another Brier. So it almost seemed too good to be true when Samagalski's phone rang shortly after last month's Brier, with fellow Manitoban Sheldon Wettig on the other end to present the free agent with the perfect opportunity to join him, second Brady St. Louis and lead Christian Smitheram. It didn't take long for Samagalski to agree to become the next skip of the Nunavut-based team. 'We've known each other for years,' Samagalski said of he and Wettig, who lives in Brandon. 'We never really curled with each other, never really curled against each other very much, but we've always chatted here and there. He reached out to me early in the year, and I was helping him a little bit with some of his practice and stuff like that, and we kind of joked about it, 'Hey, maybe one year we can play in the Brier or try to put a team together for the Brier,' and I kind of didn't really think much of it. 'Here we are months later, and we're forming a team where that's our main goal is trying to represent Nunavut at the Brier.' Wettig has helped represent Nunavut at the last three national men's championships, once with Jake Higgs as his skip and the last two with Shane Latimer. St. Louis and Smitheram were on the 2023 and 2024 squads. Nunavut has gone a combined 2-22 in the last three Briers, leading Wettig to look for another change. 'I'm excited. I've never done it before. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and it's something that I've always wanted to do, but I've never done it at a high level yet.'– Derek Samagalski 'I didn't really want to play a whole lot, and that's why when I got this offer from Nunavut… it was with a very limited schedule,' Samagalski said. 'It was like, 'Oh man, this sounds awesome,' and like I said, there is a chance for us to go to the Brier, which obviously makes it sweet being a Newfoundland Brier, as well.' Indeed, Samagalski has escaped the rugged path that is the Manitoba playdowns, and his team is already the overwhelming favourite to represent Nunavut at the 2026 Brier in St. John's. That's the case despite Samagalski, a six-time provincial champion as a lead and second, being a skip for the first time in his career. 'I'm excited. I've never done it before,' said Samagalski. 'I'm looking forward to the challenge, and it's something that I've always wanted to do, but I've never done it at a high level yet.' The move to skip was also the right move physically. Years of heavy sweeping have taken their toll on him. 'I've been playing on the competitive tour now for close to 20 years, and I don't know how many more years I have left,' he said. 'Playing front-end every year I get older, obviously your body takes more of a pounding.' 'I've been playing on the competitive tour now for close to 20 years, and I don't know how many more years I have left.'– Derek Samagalski Samagalski played with Reid Carruthers for more than 13 years before stepping away from the team halfway through last season. After a few months away from the game, he linked up with Jacques Gauthier and Tanner Lott to form a three-man team in the lead-up to the last provincial championship qualifier, which they won. After coming up short at provincials, Samagalski, Gauthier and Lott agreed to explore their own opportunities, while keeping in touch in case nothing materialized. Odds were, their time together had run its course. 'I think we were just on a little bit of different levels, where even the reason why I had to step back from the Carruthers team was just — everyone thought that I retired, which I never, ever said that I was retiring. I just said I was taking a step back. When I did have to leave Reid's team there in November, curling was just getting too much, where I couldn't commit to every day, five days a week, spieling, practising, gym, with a young family,' said Samagalski, adding Gauthier and Lott were both in the market for travelling teams. 'It was getting to me. And I just couldn't do that anymore.' The competitive fire still burned in Samagalski's belly, though, and his new squad offers up a chance to play championship curling next season. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. 'I get to skip, which I've never done before, and get to learn a little bit of things, and the chance of the possibility of going to the Brier, I just couldn't pass that up.'– Derek Samagalski Samagalski and Wettig plan to play in the Westman Superleague together with a different front-end next season. They hope the experience together will bode well for them during the most important stretch of the competitive calendar, when they are with St. Louis and Smitheram. Samagalski expects there to be some rust on his part, and he anticipates a learning curve with his new teammates as they get a feel for one another, but he believes it's something worth experiencing. 'I figured to myself, well, if I have a chance to play on a team that's going to have a limited schedule, I get to skip, which I've never done before, and get to learn a little bit of things, and the chance of the possibility of going to the Brier, I just couldn't pass that up,' he said. Joshua Frey-SamReporter Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh. Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
