Vanderbilt Law School recently launched an exciting new initiative called the Vanderbilt AI Legal Lab (VAILL) to explore how artificial intelligence can transform legal services and access to justice. In this episode, we spoke with VAILL's leadership – Cat Moon,(👑) Director of Innovation at Vanderbilt's Program on Law and Innovation (PoLI), and Mark Williams, Associate Director for Collections and Innovation at the Massey Law Library – about their vision for this pioneering lab.
VAILL's mission is to harness AI to expand access to legal knowledge and services, with a particular focus on leveraging generative AI to improve legal service delivery. As Moon described, VAILL aims to experiment, collaborate widely, and build solutions to realize AI's potential in the legal domain. The lab will leverage Vanderbilt's cross-disciplinary strengths, drawing on experts in computer science, engineering, philosophy, and other fields to inform their ethically-grounded, human-centered approach.
VAILL is prioritizing partnerships across sectors – courts, law firms, legal aid organizations, alternative providers, and others – to test ideas and develop prototype AI applications that solve real legal needs. For instance, they plan to co-create solutions with Legal Aid of North Carolina's Innovation Lab to expand access to justice. Moon explained that generative AI presents solutions for some legal challenges, so VAILL hopes to match developing technological capabilities with organizations' needs.
Ethics are foundational to VAILL's work. Students will learn both practical uses of AI in law practice as well as broader policy and social implications. As Williams emphasized, beyond core professional responsibility issues, VAILL aims to empower students to lead in shaping AI's societal impacts through deeper engagement with questions around data, access, and algorithms. Teaching ethical, creative mindsets is VAILL's ultimate opportunity.
VAILL will leverage the resources and expertise of Vanderbilt's law librarians to critically assess new AI tools from their unique perspective. Williams noted that the lab sees law students as a "risk free" testing ground for innovations, while also equipping them with adaptable learning capabilities to keep pace with AI's rapid evolution. Rather than viewing AI as a differentiator, VAILL's goal is producing legally-skilled innovators ready to thrive amidst ongoing change.
Vanderbilt's AI Legal Lab represents an exciting development in exploring AI's legal impacts. By emphasizing human-centered, ethical approaches and collaborations, VAILL aims to pioneer solutions that expand access to legal knowledge and services for all. We look forward to seeing the innovative applications VAILL develops at the intersection of law and AI.
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Transcripts
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Observing the Black Box: Transcend's Brandon Wiebe's Insights into Governing Emerging AI Systems
Fast, Smart, and Empathetic: How DISCO's Culture Drives Legal Tech Innovation (TGIR Ep. 217)
Deploying Cutting-Edge Legal AI: Travers Smith's Cautious, But Open-source Approach. (TGIR Ep. 216)
Laura Leopard on Law Firms' Current Succession Planning: Step One - Do Nothing
Trellis' Nicole Clark on Leveraging State Court Data for Competitive Advantage (TGIR Ep. 214)
You Still Need to Put in the Work: Hyperdraft's Ashley Carlisle and Tony Thai on the AI Hype Cycle
Thomson Reuters' Kriti Sharma on Responsible AI and the Path to Trusted Tech in Law
Cybersecurity in the Remote Work Era: AI, Employees and an Integrated Defense - With SessionGuardian's Jordan Ellington and Oren Leib, and Katten's Trisha Sircar
A Literal Generative AI Discussion: How AI Could Reshape Law
The Rise of "Post-Truth" Litigation: ALM's Isha Marathe on How Deep Fakes Threaten the Legal System
The Rising Cost of Legal Services: Insights from 10 Years of Data from CounselLink's Kristina Satkunas
Curt Meltzer on Why Legal Tech Companies Should Give Back: The Business Case for Pro Bono, A2J, and Community Outreach
Christian Lang on Governing the Rise of LLMs: How LEGA Provides a Safe Space for Law Firms to Use AI (TGIR Ep. 206)
Michael Bommarito on Preparing Law Students for the Future, and His Quest on Bringing Order to the Chaos of Legal Data (TGIR Ep. 205)
Unleashing Potential: Laura Terrell on Transforming Legal Careers through Executive Coaching (TGIR Ep. 204)
LexisNexis Bets Big on AI Transforming the Legal Industry: Jeff Pfeifer on the Launch of Lexis+ AI (TGIR Ep. 203)
Lawyer vs. AI or Lawyers + AI: Embracing the Future of Legal Practice with BriefPoint.ai's Nathan Walter and Bridget Albiero
Richard Tromans on the Future of Legal Innovation and The Legal Innovators California Conference (TGIR Ep. 201)
Rethinking Law Firm Strategy: The Road to Growth and Success with Toby Brown and Nita Sanger (TGIR Ep. 200)
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