American Lawyer/Law.com Interviews David Baffa on AI Training and Innovation in Law Firms

The American Lawyer (Law.com) interviewed Labor & Employment partner David Baffa in its March 30 article, “Seyfarth Shaw Partner: Law Firms Should Invest in AI Training in Law Schools or Via Associate Programs,” following Seyfarth's win of the Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Award for Regulatory, Governance and Compliance Technology.

Baffa’s insights included:

“Law firms should be investing in AI training in law schools or via summer associate and first-year training programs, and should continue to test drive emerging technologies and vendors. AI will open up new service offerings, such as predictive litigation analytics and proactive compliance monitoring.”

“AI is more likely to reduce time spent on drafting, but that does not necessarily mean that lawyers are replaced or that their work is cannibalized. Rather, lawyers will be able to work effectively alongside AI, emphasizing judgment, ethics, and client counseling, and be able to handle a higher volume of work overall.”

“With regard to client work, generative and agentic AI should evolve to produce context-aware outputs tailored to specific jurisdictions, client risk profiles, and client and firm standards.”

The Q&A is part of Law.com’s awards series examining innovation, emerging technology, and the future of legal services. The full interview is available here.