Young lawyers are becoming more valuable thanks to AI

British law firm VWV is the first law firm in the world to launch an AI training scheme putting trainees front and centre of the firm’s innovation strategy. Working in partnership with Robin AI to embed AI across the firm, they’re seeing payoffs just 6 months into this long-term effort.

• 23 trainee solicitors at VWV are getting an experience no other junior lawyers get.
  
  
• Some trainees have been pitching to VWV’s board just six months into their two-year training contract, and collectively developed four AI pilot projects, among 48 AI uses they’ve identified across the firm. 

Why it matters: Young lawyers are becoming more valuable thanks to AI, rather than being replaced by it —  and they’re helping to drive the growth of VWV. 

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• The trainees in the program shifted from being sceptical of AI at the beginning of their training to embracing it over the course of several months. 

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• The trainees say they rate AI training so highly, they’d tell their peers to choose it over increased pay — but even so their AI skills are set to increase their value to law firms, providing a career-long salary boost. 

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• Bristol-based VWV has a 209-year history, but the 500-strong firm is proving that age is no barrier to embracing cutting edge AI.

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Details: VWV have been able to accelerate their overall AI rollout with the help of Robin and the trainees. 

• Trainees are helping in-house development of a report drafting assistant, a meeting note-taking assistant, a document management tool, and a billing process analysis tool, with support from Robin AI.

Context: 69% of CEOs surveyed by PwC in 2024 said they expect their workforce to adopt new AI skills — but law firms have lagged behind other professional services industries in finding ways to adopt AI.

• Because Robin’s tools (built in partnership with Amazon Web Services and AI model provider Anthropic) are focused on solving specific pain points for legal professionals, they have allowed the trainees to quickly embrace a shift away from the tedious tasks they would normally be assigned, towards work involving the judgement and analysis they studied for at university.

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• Trainees are gaining more than cutting-edge AI skills — they’re developed a pathway to meaningful, transformative work for the firm, and play a central role in creating a firm-wide strategy — something normally reserved for senior lawyers.

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What they’re saying: “We're seeing our trainees bring fresh perspectives on how AI can enhance, rather than replace, the human elements of legal practice which shows how our next generation of lawyers is thoughtfully incorporating AI while maintaining the highest standards of legal excellence we're known for," said Steve McGuigan, VWV Managing Partner 

“Having our freshest minds re-thinking how AI can change the delivery of legal services helps define our lawyers of the future," per Dave Bloor, VWV Director of Digital, Data & Technology.

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Robin AI CEO and co-founder Richard Robinson said “We want AI to help make being a lawyer more rewarding, so it’s exciting to see those ideas come to life under the forward-thinking approach of VWV. These are the sorts of opportunities I dreamed of as a junior lawyer stuck doing tedious, repetitive work late at night.”

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What already happened: VWV’s trainees began their AI immersion in March 2024, by first stepping back and learning about the role AI is already playing in their lives. Only then did VWV push the trainees to think about their own work flows and AI.

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• AI was then workshopped as a means of business growth, with trainees taught how to think about legal AI in business terms, identifying uses for AI across the company. 
• The trainees then set about solving productivity challenges in the firm and testing new ways to automate work.
• Robin ran workshops on using Robin’s AI legal assistant, including monthly 2-hour check-ins. Those sessions debated new opportunities and allowed Robin to incorporate trainee feedback into product updates, with VWV staff going on to become early testers of planned new Robin features. 

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For more information contact press@robinai.com

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