Student misses teaching on the interplay between law and AI – now he has taken matters into his own hands
The new student association JURAI will focus on the use of artificial intelligence within law and build bridges between students and companies. The purpose is to give students the best conditions to be able to use the technology themselves, says founder Philip Haakon V. Dalmose.
Event with Pandectes
Case Workshop with Pandektes' legal AI tool.
Thursday, March 26 from 18:00 - 20:30 in the Twin Lecture Theatre, Bartholins Allé 10.
Registration via JURAI's event on Facebook.
While AI is gaining ground in many places in society, including within law and in case management, it’s not yet reflected in the teaching and curriculum of law schools. Therefore, 4th-semester law student Philip Haakon V. Dalmose has taken matters into his own hands and founded the association JURAI.
“I thought there had to be at least one other person in the law programme who thought it might be relevant to know more about these technologies,” he says regarding what became the starting point for JURAI – the Association for AI and Legal Tech.
“The aim is first and foremost to create an environment where you have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with new technologies in an established, secure profession like law,” Philip Haakon V. Dalmose says.
In the new association, this means that the students themselves will use the tools through unique cases and workshops.
The purpose of the association is also to build bridges between students and the business and industry. According to the JURAI founder, he’ll reach out to several of the companies that have various legal AI solutions and get them to show the students what they can do. In addition, there will be more classic presentations from companies, as is known from other student associations.
First official event in March
The association has its first official event scheduled for March 26th with representatives from the company Pandektes, which specialises in the combination of legal databases and artificial intelligence. Among other things, Pandektes has developed an AI tool, similar to that known from, for example, OpenAI's ChatGPT or Microsoft's Copilot, but based on legal content, including current legislation, case law and judgment databases.
“The idea is that together with Pandektes, I will guide the participants through some cases, where everyone gets some time to try it hands-on in a safe environment, where you can also ask as many questions as you want to those who developed it,” says Philip Haakon V. Dalmose about the plan for the event.
Not meant as a criticism
Philip Haakon V. Dalmose is very positively surprised by how well the association has been received so far. During the December exam period, he held an introductory event with just a week's notice, which 15 students attended and back in November, he met with the secretariat manager of the Department of Law, Kirsten Jakobsen, and two lecturers from law and commercial law, respectively, Malene Kerzel and Dennis Ramsdahl Jensen.
At the meeting, they wanted to know more about the association and the background behind why he started it.
In both contexts, the feedback was exclusively positive, but he’s also well aware that not everyone is necessarily as enthusiastic when it comes to the introduction of AI, especially in a subject like law.
“Of course, there are some professors and parts of the department who aren’t supporters of either the association or some of the new legal tech tools that have entered the industry. It's completely fair, and on several points I understand them well," he says.
Concerns include that the technology still has some technical challenges. Among other things, it "hallucinates" and fabricates false answers with otherwise realistic information. But also that there are a number of GDPR and security issues associated with the technology.
“I am critical on many fronts, and I don’t want to be part of a generation of lawyers who have only used AI as support all the way through. It’s clearly most desirable that you know the material first," says Philip Haakon V. Dalmose, who also points out that law is changing significantly outside the university world. As a law student himself, he only rarely uses AI and primarily as a tool to check his assignments.
“None of this is a criticism of AU or the Department of Law. But I think it may be many years before there are real changes in the curriculum and the study programmes,” Philip Haakon V. Dalmose says
“None of this is a criticism of AU or the Department of Law. But I think it may be many years before there are real changes in the curriculum and the study programmes," the law student points out, who isn’t worried that the association will become irrelevant during the next three years that he has left of his studies.
No thanks to AI in exams
Philip Haakon V. Dalmose is not shy about emphasising that he sees it as an advantage to know about technology, which, all other things being equal, can make it a little easier to be a law student or lawyer.
“Law is very text-heavy, and in practice, you may have lawsuits or similar cases where there are thousands of pages of documentation. And this is where, for example, many AI models really optimise workflows – they can review all these documents in a way that saves a huge amount of time,” he says, and doesn’t hide the fact that AI is also an advantage for written exams.
“If you’re taking a written law exam where AI is allowed and you don't get the top grade, I think you should take it as a sign,” Philip Haakon V. Dalmose says.
“If you’re taking a written law exam where AI is allowed and you don't get the top grade, I think you should take it as a sign that you’re not maximising the benefits of this technology,” Philip Haakon V. Dalmose says.
For the same reason, he’s also fundamentally opposed to using AI for individual exams at the Law Department.
"You still have to be educated as a lawyer the good old way," the founder of JURAI believes, adding that this may change, however, if a decision is made on how the new technologies can be integrated into teaching and examination contexts.
An A and a B team?
However, you shouldn't worry if you haven't become familiar with AI yet, says Philip Haakon V. Dalmose:
“Even if you’ve never used legal AI tools or platforms as a law graduate, and you come into a workplace that has integrated AI into its workflows, I think you’ll get to know the tools pretty quickly. In that way, I’m very positive – also towards those who aren’t part of the association,” he says and elaborates:
"But I also wouldn't rule out that if there are two equally competent lawyers sitting in a job interview, it will increasingly become crucial whether you have experience with AI," he emphasises about a situation where membership of JURAI may become relevant.
And when asked whether AI can help divide students into an A and a B team, depending on who has worked with the technology during their studies, he’s not particularly concerned either:
“I don't think it will be that black and white at all. But it’s particularly relevant in areas such as intellectual property law, IT law and GDPR,” Philip Haakon V. Dalmose concludes.
This text is machine translated and post-edited by Lisa Enevoldsen.