Unlocking the Power of Generative AI for the Legal Industry

Leverage the transformative power of AI in your legal practice with Oak Academy for AI in the Legal Profession, where academic excellence meets practical application. Engaging with us goes beyond professional development: Our profits are dedicated to supporting initiatives that champion safe and inclusive AI that benefits everyone.

Testimonials

What our participants say

Douwe de Lange
    Douwe de Lange

    The New Paradigm

    Oak Academy has put together a wonderful and innovative program, with the best minds in the field. For lawyers all over the world, this is a fantastic introduction to generative AI!

    Omar Ochoa
      Omar Ochoa

      University of Denver

      It was truly an opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of a community, even if it is just for a day, of leading AI researchers, practitioners, and scientists. I felt very blessed.

      Tyler Whitmer
        Tyler Whitmer

        Independent Lawyer

        I try to stay on top of developments in AI and its impact on legal practice, but I still learned a lot from the program. Oak Academy has a lot to offer lawyers on all points along the spectrum of attitudes about AI and the law, from skeptics to early adopters.

        Mackenzie Arnold
          Mackenzie Arnold

          Institute for Law & AI

          As someone who often thinks ‘I should really learn to integrate AI tools into my work’ and then doesn’t do it, these talks gave me several clear, actionable steps to do just that. Great, practical stuff.

          Our experts

          Meet our experts

          Cullen O’Keefe

          OpenAI

          Cullen holds a JD from Harvard Law School and currently works as Research Scientist in Governance at OpenAI. Cullen’s research focuses on the law, policy, and governance of advanced artificial intelligence.

          WEBSITE

          Prof. John Bliss

          University of Denver / Harvard University

          John is Assistant Professor at University of Denver Sturm College of Law and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. He specializes in Legal Ethics and Legal Profession and his work is published in leading outlets, including Law & Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, Wisconsin Law Review, UC Davis Law Review, and The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

          WEBSITE

          Prof. Kevin Frazier

          St. Thomas University

          Kevin is Assistant Professor at St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law. His research explores the intersection of emerging technology, democratic design, and the law. He’s also the creator of the syllabus “Regulating AI: Legal and Policy Perspectives” on H20 Open Casebook.

          WEBSITE

          Eric Martínez

          MIT

          Eric holds a JD From Harvard Law School and is currently pursuing a PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. He is the author of “Re-Evaluating GPT-4’s Bar Exam Performance” (May 8, 2023).

          WEBSITE

          Prof. Daniel Schwarcz

          University of Minnesota

          Daniel is Frederikson & Byron Professor at Minnesota University Law School. He is an award-winning teacher and scholar, and a leading researcher on the impact of artificial intelligence on legal education and the practice of law. His work is published in a wide range of leading law reviews and journals, including the University of Chicago Law Review, Virginia Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Southern California Law Review, and Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Daniel is the author of “AI Tools for Lawyers: A Practical Guide“, and “Lawyering in the Age of Artificial Intelligence“.

          WEBSITE
          Our Team

          Meet our team

          Laurens Prins

          Director

          Laurens has extensive experience as a litigation lawyer at international law firms, as an in-house litigation counsel at a multinational corporation, and as a judge at the Rotterdam District Court in The Netherlands. Before working on Oak Academy, Laurens worked at the Institute for Law & AI. He is a co-founder of Oak Academy and serves as its Director.

          LAURENS.PRINS@OAK-ACADEMY.ORG

          Dr. Alfredo Parra

          Director of Operations

          Alfredo has been thinking about AI since 2013 and has worked for two nonprofit organizations focused on reducing societal risks from AI. Alfredo has a PhD in Computational Science from the Technical University of Munich. He is a co-founder of Oak Academy and serves as its Director of Operations.

          ALFREDO.PARRA@OAK-ACADEMY.ORG
          Blog

          Scholarship on AI Lawyering (SAIL)

          The SAIL blog keeps legal professionals informed about up-to-date research on AI’s advancing legal capabilities. It is all too common that our discussions of legal AI are based on outdated or inaccurate information, including widely misinterpreted research findings. This blog discusses empirical studies of how emerging AI systems perform at legal tasks, as well as other scholarship on the implications of this technology for lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal system.

          SAIL is organized by our expert Prof. John Bliss.

          FAQ

          Frequently Asked Questions

          What does Oak Academy do with the profits?

          Oak Academy for AI in the Legal Profession is a fiscally sponsored project of a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 85-1024198). We are dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of AI accrue to the public. In line with this mission, 100% of our profits will be donated to charitable initiatives working at the intersection of law and AI. We plan to support a wide range of projects, including academic research groups, independent researchers, and advocacy organizations.

          What’s special about the offer of Oak Academy?

          We believe that our offer stands out in various important ways:

          • We are pragmatic: We are convinced that generative AI will significantly change the way legal professionals work, and we want legal professionals to be able to harness the power of these tools responsibly.
          • We have proven expertise: Our team and experts have been working at the intersection of law and AI for years, which has allowed us to build a strong global network of academics and practitioners interested in these topics. We carefully select our team of experts to bring a wide range of skills and knowledge to the table and offer participants an in-depth understanding of the cutting edge of law and AI.
          • We are committed to the social good: We believe that AI can transform the legal profession in ways that benefit society at large, if used intelligently and responsibly. We are committed to reach our goals as a nonprofit.

          We are convinced that the productivity gains will quickly pay off the investment into our programs.

          What is the expected outcome of the online programs?

          Participants will have the opportunity to interact directly with some of the world’s leading experts in law and AI, and to hear their latest insights on the use of AI in the legal profession. Given the fast pace of AI progress, our goal is for every single participant to gain a solid understanding of the most recent developments in AI, gain insights into what the top legal AI tools currently can and cannot be used for, and to learn how they can be used effectively and responsibly. We understand the value of our participants’ time, which is why we are committed to making our programs as information-dense and actionable as possible.

          How much could the use of generative AI tools impact the efficiency and quality of my legal workflows?

          Studies regarding the effects of the use of generative AI tools for professional purposes are starting to emerge, and the first signs are that there is remarkable potential for gains in efficiency, quality, and employee satisfaction. In a notable Harvard Business School study of over 750 BCG consultants, researchers found that BCG consultants using generative AI completed realistic complex tasks within the capability frontier of generative AI around 25% more quickly and produced more than 40% higher quality results. With regard to legal applications, a recent University of Minnesota Law School study found that law students using ChatGPT with limited training on how to use it for legal applications showed “large and consistent increases in speed” across four different realistic legal tasks—up to 32% faster—without harming the quality of the resulting work, while reporting increased satisfaction from using AI to complete legal tasks. Similar studies among legal professionals are as yet not available, but the University of Minnesota researchers estimate that the results of their study “will likely serve as a lower-bound estimate on AI’s capacity to improve the efficiency of legal services”.

          Do the benefits of the use of generative AI for legal applications weigh up to the risks?

          The risks of using generative AI, such as the tendency of generative AI systems to hallucinate, and questions around confidentiality and client-attorney privilege, have been widely reported. We believe these and other risks can be adequately mitigated, e.g., by knowing how to select the right tool for the right task, knowing how to use generative AI tools effectively and responsibly, rigorously verifying the outputs of generative AI tools by human professionals, and adopting effective accountability structures.

          My legal team has very specific needs. Could Oak Academy help?

          We understand that every team faces different challenges in their legal work. We’re here to help. We offer you a free consultation to discuss your needs and whether we are in a position to support you. With over 250 available legal AI tools, and many more likely to be launched in the near future being developed, we are confident that we can help you find a solution that fits your needs. We can also work with you to measure the impact of these tools.

          I’m excited to contribute to Oak Academy in other ways. How can I get involved?

          If you want to be part of a growing network of legal professionals committed to enabling practitioners to harness the power of generative AI, and developing AI technologies safely, we would love to hear from you. Please reach out to info@oak-academy.org or simply schedule a free call with us. Currently, the best way to support our work is by donating to us.