People ask me why I have embraced AI as enthusiastically as I have. It is not because I think it replaces legal judgment. It doesn’t. When I am teaching other attorneys, I say frequently that AI makes good lawyers better and reveals the bad ones. It is when attorneys allow AI to replace their judgment that they have issues.
Technology Has Been Revolutionary to My Life
There are two instances in which technology has had a massive impact on my life. The first actually began in 8th grade when I bought my first computer, an Apple IIC. This followed through into college where I worked in the microcomputer rooms, for those who don’t know, these rooms were places with a lot of computers (back then PCs and Macs) which you could use to write your papers. We had access to the Internet as well, though the Internet was all text back then. Part of my financial aid included work-study, so I needed a job. My job turned out to be working in the microcomputer rooms. At that point, I didn’t know much about computers, and I was thrown into this work with no guidance. This required me to figure out how to help other people who were having issues with machines I knew nothing about. This skill has done me well throughout my career and forms the basis of my computer knowledge and my ability to learn technology quickly. In fact, the technology knowledge and ability to just figure things out has played a massive role in my career development.
The second time? It happened over 30 years later when I was introduced to AI. I have found AI to be revolutionary. The reason I have embraced AI as much as I have is much more personal than my time in the microcomputer rooms. I have ADHD and some health challenges that make the blank page genuinely hard. The cognitive load of starting something often consumes the energy I need for the actual thinking. That is a real barrier, not an excuse. AI helps with the procrastination and gets me over the hump of getting started.
AI Does Not Replace the Legal Mind
I bring the expertise, the questions, and the direction. The collaboration with AI gets me past initiation without sacrificing the quality of the thinking. Today for example I started pulling a thread on a legal tech tool someone recommended on LinkedIn. Two hours later I had a research plan, an article outline, two product ideas, and a course concept. The thinking was mine. The judgment was mine. AI just kept me moving.
If you have ADHD, chronic illness, or anything else that makes starting hard, this is worth knowing. The productivity conversation around AI rarely mentions this. It should. The output is still yours. You just got out of your own way to produce it.