UC Berkeley Law School To Offer Advanced Law Degree Focused On AI; Forbes, August 16, 2024

 Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes; UC Berkeley Law School To Offer Advanced Law Degree Focused On AI

"The University of California, Berkeley School of Law has announced that it will offer what it’s calling “the first-ever law degree with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI).” The new AI-focused Master of Laws (LL.M.) program is scheduled to launch in summer 2025.

The program, which will award an AI Law and Regulation certificate for students enrolled in UC Berkeley Law’s LL.M. executive track, is designed for working professionals and can be completed over two summers or through remote study combined with one summer on campus...

According to Assistant Law Dean Adam Sterling, the curriculum will cover topics such as AI ethics, the fundamentals of AI technology, and current and future efforts to regulate AI. “This program will equip participants with in-depth knowledge of the ethical, regulatory, and policy challenges posed by AI,” Sterling added. “It will focus on building practice skills to help them advise and represent leading law firms, AI companies, governments, and non-profit organizations.”"

Reed Smith Names AI Chief, Plans for Faster Deals and IP Work; Bloomberg Law, May 15, 2024

Roy Strom, Bloomberg Law; Reed Smith Names AI Chief, Plans for Faster Deals and IP Work

"Richard Robbins is about a week into his role as Reed Smith’s first director of applied artificial intelligence, but—in a sign of how quickly the area is developing—there’s already a lot on his plate.

The law firm is working on at least eight generative artificial intelligence projects, ranging from testing new products to developing AI-fueled workflows for entire practice areas. Robbins, who joined the firm from legal tech company Epiq, will help usher those projects from the test phase to broader rollouts.

“It has been everybody’s part-time work, but we knew that this is so serious,” David Cunningham, Reed Smith’s chief innovation officer, said in an interview. “Just like we have heads of our data insights, our product design team, and our lab, we really needed to have an equal if not greater focus on how we apply AI and data science to the firm."

Law firms have been trying to develop strategies for how to invest in AI and where to deploy it to make their work more efficient."

Big law firms gobble up intellectual property firms in consolidation push; Reuters, December 12, 2023

 David Thomas, Reuters; Big law firms gobble up intellectual property firms in consolidation push

"At least half a dozen firms that specialize in intellectual property law and litigation have been absorbed by larger U.S. law firms this year, as bigger firms seek to expand their IP benches and the niche firms face pressure to match their rivals' resources."