Follett: Preparing law students for the AI era
The Centre for Legal Technology at Ulster University has unveiled a new partnership with lawtech company StructureFlow to teach law students how to use AI and visual modelling.
The collaboration will explore how AI skills and visualisation could change both legal education and professional practice.
The centre, which opened in Belfast in 2017 and was the first of its kind in the UK, provides education and training to law students and legal professionals, based on the role that technology plays in legal services.
Lawyers use the StructureFlow platform to turn complex transactions and legal structures into clear, interactive models.
Using AI, it transforms standard text, data and photographs into live diagrams, timelines, step plans and process maps – enabling lawyers to connect and see complex information on screen, break down legislation, map legal relationships and test and make decisions.
It aims to help lawyers quickly understand how changes in one part of a structure affect the wider picture.
The Centre for Legal Technology has integrated StructureFlow into its teaching and research, enabling its students and the law firms which partner with the centre to develop the AI skills and “structural intelligence” they need to be a modern-day lawyer.
Firms including Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills, Pinsent Masons and Factor Law have all worked with the centre over the last nine years.
Dr John McCord, its senior lecturer and research lead, said: “StructureFlow gives students a powerful way to cut through complex and often fragmented information, analyse their legal arguments, and present them in a way that can be understood, challenged and verified.
“That matters because law is built on trust, and trust depends on being able to provide clear advice, while showing how conclusions have been reached. This partnership will help our students build the practical proficiency and confidence they need for the future of legal work.”
Former Corporate Solicitor Tim Follett, chief executive and founder of StructureFlow, said: “The Centre for Legal Technology at Ulster University is taking exactly the kind of forward-looking approach legal education needs.
“As legal, business and regulatory environments become more interconnected, the challenge for future lawyers is not simply more information, but compounding complexity: understanding how different obligations, structures, relationships and risks interact.
“AI platforms are becoming incredibly powerful, but their outputs still need to be interpreted, tested, structured and explained.”
The next generation of lawyers will need legal knowledge, technological fluency and visual reasoning, he added.
The partnership with StructureFlow is part of Ulster University’s mission to “rethink legal education for the age of AI”, so its students are prepared for the growing complexities of being a lawyer and can play a leading role in how technology shapes the future of legal services.
Research indicates that 60% of lawyers now regularly use AI for routine work such as research or reviewing documents.
Professor Liam Maguire, pro vice-chancellor for research at Ulster University, said: “Partnerships between higher education and industry are increasingly important in helping universities respond to the pace of technological change across professional sectors.
“By working collaboratively with innovative organisations, we can ensure our research, teaching and student experience remain closely connected to emerging challenges and opportunities.
“Initiatives such as this support the development of future talent while also helping drive responsible innovation across the wider legal and technology ecosystem.”
Mr Follett told Legal Futures: “In this AI era, lawyers need AI-legal skills – a more expansive toolkit – and the best place to start developing those skills is at university.
“Law is becoming more dynamic, led by lawyers and technologists. By understanding how the technology works, and by making AI and visual modelling second nature for the lawyers of the future, law firms will be able to work out how and when to use AI and human capabilities at the right time, which will lead to the AI freeing up the lawyer to do more high-value work.”