Artificial intelligence integration has introduced new opportunities and significant challenges for the legal profession. At the University of Miami School of Law, the Miami Law & AI Lab (MiLA) hosted a recent discussion with Logan Breed and Falk Schöning, both partners at Hogan Lovells, an international law firm.
The attorneys shared their insights about the intersection of AI and law. The event, which provided 1.5 general and 1.5 technology CLE credits, was timely and featured discussions on the emerging legal ramifications of AI technology in various sectors. The necessity for legal professionals to adapt to these changes was a key theme throughout their presentation.
Michael Froomkin, the Laurie Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein Distinguished Professor of Law and an AI and robot law expert, opened the AI Regulation & Legal Practice event by introducing the two attorneys. Breed is the global co-head of the Hogan Lovells antitrust, competition, and economic regulation practice and practices out of Washington, D.C. Schöning advises clients on all aspects of EU and German antitrust law, foreign investment control, foreign subsidies regulation, and export control. He focuses on international cases requiring coordination between legal systems and works in Brussels and Berlin.
Schöning began the presentation by explaining to the participants how AI has changed how he practices law and the challenges AI can pose to the legal profession.
“When we look at AI legal issues from the perspective of practitioners, we think about it in a couple of different ways,” said Schöning. “One is advising the companies that are creating AI algorithms and tools, which are increasingly the subject of regulation, but then we also look at it from the perspective of clients who are using AI technology. They’re not making it themselves, but they’re integrating it into their business in various ways that could create legal risk for them, and that is basically every company out there.”
As AI becomes more ubiquitous in business practices—from analyzing data to automation—the legal implications are growing in complexity. These implications include regulatory compliance and contract liability when employing AI technologies.
“For us as lawyers, AI creates different kinds of opportunities,” said Breed. “But there’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s regulatory, technological, and business uncertainty, and we try to help our clients navigate the uncertainty.”
The Compliance Landscape
Compliance was emphasized as a crucial aspect of the legal advice being provided to clients. As AI technology advances, companies are increasingly required to follow various regulations to avoid legal pitfalls. In both the EU and the U.S., regulatory bodies are ramping up scrutiny of AI applications, leading to a robust dialogue about what constitutes responsible use of technology, which is likely to be deployed in European markets, further complicating matters.
Opportunities for Legal Professionals
Despite the challenges presented by AI, there are also opportunities for new legal practices to emerge. Legal professionals with legal acumen and a technical understanding of AI will be uniquely positioned to advise clients effectively and strategically. As the future unfolds, roles that merge law and technology are anticipated to become more prevalent. Legal professionals will need to adapt, taking on a more profound role in understanding how AI works, its implications, and how it reshapes traditional legal practices.
“I’ve been doing this now for 17 years, and I’ve seen a lot of technological advancements that have already changed the way I work, but these were all gradual,” said Breed. “And if I just look back at the last year and how I, with my team, work with AI, I can see that this does have the potential to be really transformative.”
The Role of Education
For law students attending the conference, the message was clear: preparing for the future of law requires mastering legal principles and cultivating an understanding of technology. The capabilities of AI are accelerating, and future lawyers will need to be agile, adaptable, and equipped with new skills to succeed in a landscape that is becoming increasingly complex.
“Going forward, I think you need to complement your education with other skills, and you need to complement it with interest and knowledge of technologies because otherwise, it will be very difficult to understand what the clients you will be working with are doing,” said Breed.
