The AI Era of Law: How King's is leading the AI revolution in Digital Law

AI is not simply another technological wave, it is a seismic shift in the way that law is being practiced and how legal services will be delivered in the near future. At The Dickson Poon School of Law, we see AI not as a threat to legal education but as an opportunity for us to lead a new era in legal scholarship, pedagogy, and social impact. Our ambition is to make King’s the global leader in the exploration of AI and digital law, and over the next few weeks we will be profiling the amazing work our people we have been doing in this field. 

As generative AI and machine reasoning become embedded in everyday legal processes, the legal system will necessarily adapt and the nature of legal practice will change. At King’s, we’ve recognised that lawyers of the future will need to understand not only the black letter law, but also to use large language models, how to understand the ethical use of AI, how data drives decision-making, and how legal values such as fairness, transparency and accountability need to be encoded in digital technology.

Recognising this, we have positioned ourselves as the leading institution in this space. The Law School’s Centre for Data Futures is a cornerstone of our strategic direction that brings together scholars working on law, data, AI, ethics, and governance in a dynamic and interdisciplinary environment. We’ve launched cutting-edge programmes including classes in responsible AI, a new LLB subject on Generative AI in Law, and an online masters in Digital Law.

Driven by the research that we’ll be profiling over the coming weeks, we will be rolling out a range of initiatives within the school that will ensure that all our students are equipped with the tools they need to succeed in the new AI era in which we now live.

The evolution of AI & law

My interest in this space began decades ago, long before AI became a mainstream concern. My initial training was in both computer science and law. I undertook research during the early days of AI & law, back when the state of the art involved legal expert systems that relied on computational encoding of legislation and cases. My doctoral work at Cambridge focused on cognitive science models of legal reasoning and what actually happens when a lawyer makes an analogy between two cases, or a judge feels obliged to follow a binding precedent because it appears to be so similar to the case that they’re deciding. I was fascinated then, as I am fascinated now, by the idea that legal thinking could be modelled in machine-interpretable form.

My professional journey has always been about bridging legal theory and technological practice. I’ve written extensively on building AI systems for legal decision-making, the use of AI in criminal sentencing, and the application of AI to regulatory compliance and intellectual property. I’ve also founded multiple AI-based startups.

All these professional activities are a manifestation of the new world of legal work, and their intersection give us insight into how legal services are being transformed by technology. These insights feed back into our curriculum and research at King’s. This virtuous circle, of research, practice, and innovation, is at the heart of our law school’s mission and the way that we’re already different from other schools and how we will increasingly be different in the coming years.

When I began working in AI and law more than thirty years ago, the conversation was niche, largely limited to a small number of researchers in legal informatics who would occasionally get together at AI conferences and wonder why more people weren’t interested in this topic. Today, AI is at the centre of global legal discourse. We’ve moved from speculative debates about whether machines could think like lawyers to pressing questions about the transformation of the legal profession by LLMs, language reasoning models, and agentic systems.

At the same time important legal concerns arise from the use of AI in sentencing, predictive policing, autonomous systems, and judicial decision-making. The public now recognises that the regulation of AI is not simply a technical issue but a vital legal and ethical one. The global conversations on AI governance and regulation all highlight the duty that law schools have in educating their students about these topics, and we at The Dickson Poon School of Law are ensuring that our students are equipped to meet this challenge.

The future of law

The future of the law lies in understanding AI and using it appropriately. We're building degree and module offerings that integrate law and computer science, and deepening our partnerships with law firms, regulators, and technology companies to provide our students with unparalleled exposure to the future of legal work. From undergraduate engagement with generative AI tools to our university-wide AI Taskforce, King’s is taking a strategic approach to AI in education. Our AI Plus strategy is a model for the sector, embedding AI fluency into every discipline and developing a new generation of professionals who are both technically competent and ethically grounded.

King’s will also lead the conversation around AI and law. We are uniquely placed to guide how fairness, justice, and human rights should be embedded in machine-led processes and the school is driving the conversation about a new vision for law in the AI age. We’re not only reacting to change, we are shaping it.

This is a once-in-a-century moment for legal education. At King’s, we are grabbing the opportunity with both hands.