Offering seeks to provide curated learning experiences, course materials, personalized AI assistant
Amid the rapid rise of artificial intelligence in the legal landscape, the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) has introduced its AI Academy, which seeks to guide legal professionals along a journey where they can gain hands-on experience and learn as they go.
According to the OBA’s media release, its new AI Academy aims to help lawyers take advantage of AI and develop AI tools that best serve the unique needs and strengths of their legal practice.
"Lawyers are naturally curious about the potential for AI to bring greater efficiency to their practices, but many, me included, haven’t been able to find enough hours in the day to explore the potential,” said Kathryn Manning, OBA president, in the media release.
The AI Academy seeks to provide users with practical knowledge about the AI tools and applications most valuable to their firms, organizations, or practice areas so that they can save time, Manning said in the OBA’s media release.
The AI Academy starts with a survey on the user’s current AI awareness, allows legal professionals to customize the learning experience based on their interests and interactions, and covers topics including prompt engineering, prototype building, risk management, and the regulatory landscape, the OBA’s media release said.
Users can interact with a personalized AI assistant called LawQi and practice AI applications via exercises, quizzes, and games, the media release said. They can also access relevant course materials, tools, and insights from academic and legal organizations from a repository that expands weekly, the media release added.
The OBA’s media release said that the new AI Academy is part of its broader “Real Intelligence on AI” initiative, which aims to offer curated learning experiences and interactive exercises that encourage users to be curious and experiment.
The media release said the initiative’s offerings seek to demystify AI and promote a harmonious partnership between legal professionals and AI. It added that these offerings can also help lawyers confidently adopt AI, develop customized tools and compliance guidelines, and access resources addressing their evolving challenges.
Colin Lachance, OBA innovator-in-residence, developed the initiative. With the new AI academy, lawyers can dive straight into AI instead of just reading about its use in legal practice, Lachance said.
“Those who’ve jumped in to try out the AI Academy in its beta phase have been thrilled with being able take charge and become experts in the AI tools that will work well in their practice, and are now much more comfortable in selecting, adopting and even creating those tools,” Lachance added in the OBA’s media release.
