Robert Ambrogi Blog
Ever since Bridget Mary McCormack, the former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, took over as president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution services in the world, she has been spearheading its drive towards greater innovation – particularly with regard to its adoption of generative AI.
Now, the AAA has taken the lessons it has learned through those efforts and is unveiling a comprehensive continuing education course designed to guide law firm leaders through the complex landscape of generative AI implementation, using its own experience as a case study.
Titled “Building a Law Firm AI Strategy: Lessons from the American Arbitration Association’s Transformation,” the self-paced program aims to provide legal professionals with a practical roadmap for navigating technological change.
The AAA developed the course in collaboration with Creative Lawyers, an innovation consulting and services firm, and it is partnering with the Practising Law Institute (PLI) to support the distribution of the course.
McCormack, in a recent interview, told me that the course draws directly from the AAA’s two-year AI transformation journey, offering an insider’s perspective on successful organizational adaptation. The curriculum goes beyond technical training, focusing on the critical change management strategies necessary for effective AI integration.
“I basically spend all day and all night thinking about how generative AI could change the legal profession for the better or maybe for the worse,” McCormack said. “But it really depends on lawyers figuring it out and taking a leadership role in it. …
“If we aren’t the ones figuring it out, there’s a risk that others do. I don’t really want to hand the keys over to the technologists who don’t have a rule-of-law background to figure out the future. I want us, the people who went to law school because they cared about how important the operating system of society is, to be the ones figuring out what it looks like.”
The course’s six-module structure is specifically designed to address the multifaceted challenges of AI adoption. Each module is asynchronous and self-paced, allowing legal professionals to learn on their own schedules.
The curriculum includes worksheets that enable participants to tailor the learning to their specific firm context, addressing what Jennifer Leonard, founder of Creative Lawyers, described as the need to “empower law firms to take the next step in AI adoption.”
“I’ve never seen a force like generative AI,” Leonard told me. “And I think the thing that excites the three of us about it is it has the opportunity to really dislodge some stubborn structural elements of the profession that have prevented change for so long.”
Sharon L. Crane, president of PLI, said that the course is particularly timely. “AI is reshaping the legal industry, and this course provides invaluable guidance for firms navigating that transformation,” she said.
The partnership leverages PLI’s extensive network, which includes nearly 500,000 roster members spanning from Am Law 100 firms to solo practitioners and judiciary professionals.
The course explores several key topics, including:
- The urgency of AI adoption in legal practice.
- Structuring and scaling AI projects.
- Identifying AI use cases for client needs
- Leading AI-driven change.
- Overcoming common implementation challenges.
With an early registration discount available at AAAiCourse.org, the course is set to launch in Spring 2025, targeting law firm leaders, corporate counsel, and other legal professionals seeking to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI.
Even as this course launches, the AAA, Creative Lawyers and PLI are planning to develop and release additional courses focused on AI.
“We’re seeing such a hunger for more on this topic,” Crane said. Whenever PLI puts on a program about AI, evaluations come back asking, “When’s the next one? When’s 2.0? How can I apply this to my work?”
“I think this program really answers that need for people who have a hunger for the topic,” Crane said, “but also to go a step further and say, ‘How do I implement this myself?’ That’s the rallying cry we keep hearing.”