“Decades of professional norms, local rules, and the like stand in the way of fully realizing AI’s potential. Lawyers should avoid the temptation of sticking with the status quo and instead look for opportunities to close the justice gap using AI.”
In the last few weeks, there has been two excellent podcasts that showcase the depths of what legal learning could provide. In the first, a conversation (here) about the history and framework for the federal constitution, taught largely from an incredible five volume work entitled The Founders’ Constitution. The second comes from our friends at the Mattone Center for Law and Religion (here), featuring two Fordham law professors who have launched a forum for law students hoping to discuss C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.
Fortuitous as it is, we have supplemented this Christmas Day with a third dimension of legal education, which is the question of access to justice and the role of lawyers in improving the lives of their neighbors. My guest is Kevin T. Frazier, who has written an excellent, short piece for the Federalist Society (here) entitled Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Access to Justice, But the Legal Profession Has a Role to Play.
Kevin and I talk about a number of things, including what access to justice means, what are legal deserts, why representation is so important, the various digital tools already out there, and more.
Kevin joined St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law as an Assistant Professor of Law in 2023. He teaches administrative law, constitutional law, and civil procedure. Prior to joining STU Law, he served as a Judicial Clerk on the Montana Supreme Court and conducted research on regulating AI as a Research Fellow with the Legal Priorities Project. As of September 2024, he became a Senior Research Fellow in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Faculty page here.
Enjoy!