The AI Skills Every Lawyer Needs

The AI Skills Every Lawyer Needs

Artificial intelligence is no longer something the legal profession can treat as a future issue.

It's already here.

Lawyers are using AI to assist with research, drafting, document review, summarisation, knowledge management and everyday administrative work.

Law firms are investing in AI platforms.

Clients are experimenting with the technology themselves.

And a new question is emerging for legal professionals:

What does it actually mean to be good at using AI as a lawyer?

The answer isn't simply knowing how to use ChatGPT.

The lawyers who benefit most from AI will be those who understand how to instruct it, challenge it, verify it and combine its capabilities with something technology still cannot replicate:

Human judgement.

Here are the AI skills every lawyer should be developing.

1. AI Literacy

The starting point is understanding what artificial intelligence can and cannot do. Lawyers don't need to become software engineers or understand how to build large language models. But they should understand the fundamentals.

That includes knowing:

• What generative AI does

• Why different AI tools produce different results

• Why AI can generate inaccurate information

• How AI systems use data

• What tasks AI is suitable for

• Where human supervision remains essential

AI literacy is rapidly becoming another form of professional literacy. You don't need to understand how the technology was built. You need to understand it well enough to use it responsibly.

2. Knowing How to Prompt AI Effectively

The quality of an AI response depends heavily on the quality of the instruction.

Consider the difference between asking:

"Review this contract."

And:

"Review this commercial agreement from the perspective of the purchaser. Identify clauses creating material financial, termination or liability risk. Explain each issue in plain English and identify areas requiring further legal review."

The second instruction provides:

• Context

• Perspective

• Objectives

• Parameters

• Output requirements

Better instructions generally produce better results. In many respects, prompting AI is similar to delegating work to a junior lawyer. If your instructions are unclear, you shouldn't be surprised when the output isn't what you wanted.

3. Verification

This could be the most important AI skill lawyers develop. AI can be extremely convincing. It can also be wrong.

Generative AI systems can produce incorrect facts, inaccurate interpretations and even authorities or citations that don't exist. Lawyers therefore need to become skilled at verifying AI-generated work.

That means checking:

• Cases

• Legislation

• Citations

• Dates

• Factual assertions

• Legal principles

• Assumptions

• Sources

AI can help produce the work. The lawyer remains responsible for it.

4. Knowing When Not to Use AI

Being good at AI isn't just knowing when to use it. It's knowing when not to.

Legal professionals routinely handle highly confidential and sensitive information.

Before entering information into an AI platform, lawyers should understand:

• Their firm's AI policy

• How the platform stores information

• Whether prompts are retained

• How client information is handled

• Privacy obligations

• Confidentiality requirements

• Professional conduct obligations

• Any client-specific restrictions

Convenience should never override professional responsibility. The fastest way to complete a task isn't necessarily the safest way.

5. Critical Thinking

As AI makes producing information easier, evaluating information becomes more valuable.

When AI generates an answer, lawyers need to ask:

Is this actually correct?

What's missing?

What assumptions has the AI made?

Does this apply in the relevant jurisdiction?

Is there another interpretation?

Would I be comfortable putting my name on this advice?

The lawyer's role is increasingly not simply to obtain information. It's to determine whether that information can be trusted and how it should be applied.

6. Commercial Judgement

AI can tell a client what the law says. A great lawyer helps the client decide what to do next. Those are very different things.

Clients operate within commercial realities involving:

• Cost

• Reputation

• Risk

• Relationships

• Time

• Strategy

• Internal politics

• Business objectives

The technically perfect legal solution isn't always the commercially sensible one. AI can assist with analysis. Human judgement determines what that analysis means for the client.

7. Asking Better Questions

AI is making answers easier to obtain. That could make the ability to ask the right question more valuable. Great lawyers don't simply answer the question presented to them.They identify the problem behind the question.

They ask:

• What is the client actually trying to achieve?

• What information are we missing?

• What assumptions are being made?

• What happens if we do nothing?

• What risk hasn't been considered?

• What is the commercial objective?

AI may become exceptionally good at producing answers. Lawyers still need to determine which questions matter.

8. Understanding AI-Generated Work

Lawyers shouldn't simply copy and paste AI output. They need to understand how to interrogate it.

That could mean asking AI to:

• Explain its reasoning

• Identify assumptions

• Present alternative arguments

• Challenge a conclusion

• Compare competing positions

• Highlight areas of uncertainty

• Reframe information for different audiences

Used properly, AI can become a tool for thinking—not simply writing.

9. Legal Technology Fluency

AI won't exist as a standalone tool forever. Increasingly, AI capabilities are being incorporated directly into the technology lawyers already use.

That includes:

• Legal research platforms

• Document management systems

• Contract review tools

• Practice management software

• E-discovery platforms

• Knowledge management systems

• Microsoft productivity tools

• Client portals

The specific platforms will continue changing. The important skill is becoming comfortable learning new technology.

10. Communicating Complex Advice Simply

AI can produce enormous amounts of information. Clients rarely want enormous amounts of information. They want clarity. The ability to take complex legal analysis and explain it simply remains one of the most valuable skills a lawyer can develop.

That might mean explaining:

Here is the issue.

Here is the risk.

Here are your options.

Here is what I recommend.

Technology may accelerate analysis. It doesn't remove the need for communication.

11. Emotional Intelligence

Some legal matters aren't simply technical problems.

They involve:

• Fear

• Conflict

• Reputation

• Careers

• Families

• Businesses

• Significant financial consequences

Clients don't always need another piece of information. Sometimes they need judgement, reassurance, empathy or someone capable of navigating a difficult conversation.

AI can simulate empathy. A trusted adviser builds it. That distinction matters.

12. Relationship Building

Technology can help a lawyer prepare for a client meeting. It can't build the relationship for them. Strong legal careers are still built on relationships.

Relationships with:

• Clients

• Colleagues

• Mentors

• Referrers

• Industry peers

• Future employers

As technical work becomes more efficient, human relationships may become an even greater differentiator.

13. AI-Assisted Business Development

AI can also help lawyers grow their practices.

Used appropriately, lawyers can use AI to assist with:

• Researching industries

• Preparing for client meetings

• Developing presentation ideas

• Drafting thought leadership

• Identifying emerging legal issues

• Structuring seminar content

• Preparing client updates

But AI shouldn't replace a lawyer's voice. The strongest professional brands are built on genuine expertise and perspective. AI should help communicate that expertise, not manufacture it.

14. Adaptability

Perhaps the most important AI skill has very little to do with AI. It's adaptability.

The tools lawyers use today will change.

New platforms will emerge.

Existing products will improve.

Law firm policies will evolve.

Client expectations will change.

Trying to master one particular AI platform isn't enough. Lawyers need to become comfortable continuously learning. Curiosity may become one of the most valuable professional skills in law.

What Does AI Mean for Junior Lawyers?

Junior lawyers are likely to experience some of the biggest changes.

Traditionally, early legal careers have involved significant amounts of:

• Legal research

• Document review

• Due diligence

• First-draft preparation

• Summarisation

• Chronology preparation

AI can now assist with many of these tasks.

That doesn't mean junior lawyers become unnecessary.

But it could mean the way junior lawyers develop needs to change.

If technology performs more routine work, firms may need to expose younger lawyers earlier to:

• Client interaction

• Commercial thinking

• Strategy

• Negotiation

• Judgement

• Relationship building

AI may not eliminate the legal apprenticeship model. But it could reshape it.

What Does AI Mean for Partners and Senior Lawyers?

AI isn't something partners can simply delegate to younger lawyers.

Senior lawyers need enough AI literacy to understand:

• How their teams are using it

• What risks exist

• How work should be supervised

• What clients expect

• How technology affects pricing

• Where efficiencies can be created

Leadership in an AI-enabled law firm requires understanding the technology influencing the people you lead.

Do Lawyers Need to Learn Coding?

For most lawyers, no.

There will undoubtedly be opportunities for lawyers who combine legal expertise with software development, automation and data skills. But most lawyers don't need to become programmers. The objective isn't to become better at technology than technologists. It's to become better lawyers because of technology.

Will AI Skills Become as Important as Legal Research Skills?

Potentially.

There was a time when online legal research itself was a new capability.

Today, nobody describes knowing how to use a legal research platform as an innovative skill.

It's simply expected. AI could follow a similar trajectory.

What feels novel today may eventually become an ordinary part of legal practice. And that's why lawyers should start developing these skills now.

The Lawyer AI Won't Replace

The debate about whether AI will replace lawyers often misses the more important point.

The lawyer of the future isn't competing against artificial intelligence. They're working alongside it.

The strongest lawyers will combine:

• Legal expertise

• AI literacy

• Critical thinking

• Commercial judgement

• Communication

• Emotional intelligence

• Relationships

• Leadership

• Adaptability

AI can make a lawyer faster. Those other capabilities make a lawyer valuable.

LawUno Insight

AI isn't lowering the bar for lawyers.

It may be raising it. When everyone has access to technology capable of researching, summarising and drafting at extraordinary speed, simply producing information becomes less valuable. The differentiator becomes what you do with that information.

Can you challenge it?

Can you identify what it missed?

Can you apply commercial judgement?

Can you explain the answer clearly?

Can you understand the human problem behind the legal problem?

And can a client trust you to make the right call?

The lawyers who succeed won't necessarily be those who know the most about artificial intelligence.

They'll be the lawyers who know how to combine AI with everything technology cannot replace.