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AI, Law and Legal Training (AILLT)

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Funding Stream:

Award Details

Project Team:

Dr Francine Ryan

Liz Hardie

Professor Kim Barker

Dr Kevin Waugh

Dr Mike Richards

Dr Daniel Gooch ​

Dr Francine Ryan, Senior Lecturer In Law, Director Open Justice Centre, The Open University
Lead HEI:
The Open University
Project dates:
1 September 2024 - 31 August 2025
Location:
  • UK

This project brings together a multidisciplinary team to co-produce research informed resources that will enhance knowledge and awareness of, and confidence in the use of GenAI for understanding legal processes and accessing legal information. By explaining GenAI, its application, implications, and ethical use in legal contexts, the project activities will educate and empower the public, organisations that provide legal advice, small and medium-sized law firms, students, and academics. The team will create open access and engaging online courses (including interactive and audio-visual materials, checklists, and case studies) that provide ethical and responsible knowledge of, and skills to use GenAI.

Activities and Achievements

This project brought together stakeholders from across the advice and legal sector to explore the development of education and training resources to help people better understand AI and consider the opportunities and challenges around using AI tools for legal information and advice. Through the development of eight free courses and a policy brief on AI literacy we aim to ensure that people have a better understanding of how to use AI ethically and responsibly.

The project:

  • co-produced open educational resources to enhance knowledge, awareness, confidence of, and the use of GenAI in legal contexts
  • educates and empowers the public, free advice organisations, small and medium-sized law firms, students and academics on the application, implications, and ethical and responsible use of GenAI in a legal context
  • empowers learners through the provision of open access, accessible and engaging educational resources that encourage the ethical and responsible use of GenAI.

Impact

The courses have been designed to support AI literacy and are accessible to a wide audience. By offering them online, we have removed geographical barriers, enabling us to reach a broad and diverse group of learners. This approach promotes greater awareness and understanding of how AI works and encourages the ethical and responsible use of AI tools. Through this suite of courses, learners are empowered to engage with AI more meaningfully and confidently.

Outputs and Outcomes

The courses were designed by engaging stakeholders from across the advice and legal sectors, we held three online workshops:

• Workshop 1: In partnership with, the Free Advice and Voluntary Sector, we brought together advisers and volunteers to gather information that provided an understanding of how the training materials can best address the public and free advice organisations’ needs.

• Workshop 2: We met legal academics and law students to inform the training materials on the skills that law students require to transition into legal practice.

• Workshop 3: We invited legal practitioners – including law firms, the Bar, and the judiciary – to explore the training needs of legal practitioners.
Public Engagement

At the workshops stakeholders discussed the implications of AI and identified the training needs of the advice and legal sectors, which then informed the content and design of the courses. We produced an interim report that sets out the findings from the workshops.

Interim Report

Online courses
We have developed eight free online courses; each designed for beginners. Upon completing a short quiz at the end of each course, participants receive a digital badge and certificate. The courses aim to help learners understand how AI tools like ChatGPT work, while also exploring the opportunities and challenges of using AI for legal information and advice. Learners can study at their own pace, and each course can be taken independently. To support different learning needs, we have also created suggested pathways tailored to various roles.
1. Understanding Generative AI
2. Skills and Strategies for Using Generative AI
3. Key Considerations for Successful Generative AI Adoption
4. Use Cases for Generative AI
5. Ethical and Responsible Use of Generative AI
6. Navigating Risk Management
7. Legal Regulation and Compliance
8. Horizon Scanning and AI Literacy

These are flexible resources with a creative commons licence to facilitate sharing and collaboration.

To explore the courses go to:  OLCreate: AI Law and Legal Training | OLCreate

Events/Partners

• We held a launch event in June 2025, which brought together stakeholders and policy makers across the advice and legal sectors.  Lord Justice Birss delivered the keynote address, and we had three panels exploring AI and access to justice, AI and the legal profession and AI and legal education with twelve speakers.

• Social media and further events are planned to promote the courses and AI literacy.

• In partnership with policyWise: Home | policyWISE we have written a Wise in 5 which is a snapshot comparative guide to AI literacy across the nations of the UK and Ireland. We have planned engagement with the Parliaments across the four nations to promote AI literacy.

PolicyWISE briefing documents (Wise in 5 on AI literacy)

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