Forget Just Learning the Law. This Global Firm Wants Students to Help Build Its AI.

One of the world's leading international law firms is introducing a new career pathway for law students, offering them the opportunity to develop artificial intelligence technology before beginning traditional legal training. And perhaps most surprisingly, no coding experience is required.

US law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges has announced a new programme that will allow selected first-year law students to spend their summer working directly with the firm's AI and innovation team.

Launching in 2027, the 10-week programme will place students within Weil's Lawyer-Augmented Solutions Engineering & Research (LASER) team, which brings together lawyers, software engineers and technology specialists. Rather than spending their first summer exclusively on traditional legal assignments, participants will help develop technology designed to improve how lawyers work.

From law student to AI developer

The programme goes considerably further than simply teaching students how to use ChatGPT or legal AI platforms.

Participants will:

• Learn Python programming from the ground up.
• Build a neural network and explore how large language models operate.
• Help develop software applications for legal practice.
• Work on active legal projects alongside the firm's AI specialists.
• Contribute to academic research examining artificial intelligence and the law.

Each student will receive guidance from a dedicated mentor within the LASER team.

Importantly, applicants do not need previous experience in coding, mathematics, data science or computer science. Weil is instead looking for students who demonstrate strong academic achievement, leadership, intellectual curiosity and an interest in legal innovation.

A new pathway into Big Law?

The programme introduces an unusual approach to graduate recruitment.

Students selected for the 2027 AI programme will also receive offers to return to Weil in 2028 as traditional second-year summer associates. This gives participants an opportunity to understand how legal technology is developed before gaining experience applying that technology in legal practice. The programme will initially operate from Weil's New York office and is open to eligible first-year students attending American Bar Association-accredited law schools.

It is not currently an Australian graduate recruitment programme.

What could this mean for Australian law students?

For Australian law students, the announcement offers an early indication of how legal graduate recruitment could evolve internationally. As firms increasingly integrate AI into research, drafting, due diligence and litigation, technological understanding may become an important differentiator for graduates entering the profession. But Weil's approach also challenges a common assumption: that lawyers must choose between developing traditional legal expertise and pursuing technological skills. The firm's programme suggests that future lawyers may benefit from understanding not only how to use AI, but how it is developed, evaluated and incorporated into legal workflows.

Australian firms have already begun incorporating AI training into graduate development programmes.

Whether they will introduce dedicated technology-focused graduate pathways similar to Weil's remains to be seen.

LawUno Insight

The next generation of successful lawyers may not be those who know how to code. They may be those who understand technology well enough to question it, improve it and apply it responsibly.

Weil's initiative represents an interesting shift in how a major international firm is approaching early-career development. Rather than treating AI as a tool graduates will encounter after joining the profession, the firm is placing technological education at the beginning of their careers. For law students, the message is significant: legal knowledge remains essential, but curiosity, adaptability and technological literacy could increasingly influence career opportunities.

For law firms, it raises an equally important question about the future of legal education and graduate training.

Should Australian law firms start teaching students how to build AI, rather than simply how to use it?