SAL to teach lawyers how to stay ahead of AI curve

Jurists must develop critical thinking when using high-tech tools.

The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) wants to train young lawyers on analytical and management skills, including the ethical use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which is changing legal practice with its ability to provide basic legal advice.

"Generative AI is a class of AI that is hitting the legal profession in full force,” SAL CEO Yeong Zee Kin told Singapore Business Review. “Clients can ask ChatGPT or Gemini legal questions [and they can] generate contracts or legal strategies.”

He noted that existing genAI tools are largely trained using US sources and may give clients US-centric legal advice.

"Doctors have faced this challenge for years,” he said via Zoom. “They had to deal with patients who have googled and concluded that they are ill or not ill before they turned up at the clinic, but they learnt how to deal with it. Lawyers must now do the same.” 

Yeong said the programme would also teach junior lawyers how to use genAI effectively, such as in drafting and reviewing legal documents — tasks that often involve repetitive and diligent work. 

This used to be a skill that lawyers had to learn over and over for years, he pointed out.

This used to be a skill that lawyers learned by repetition he pointed out.

"How, then, does a young lawyer pick up that ability to discern when they see a document, whether it is relevant or not, and how it is relevant, and whether there are any legal privilege issues that prevent its use?” he asked.

"We will have to train lawyers to use the tool and use the tool effectively, such that they don't just blindly take every recommendation that comes along,” he said. 

“They still need to question [the suggestion] and have an analytical mind.” SAL worked with the Institute for Adult Learning of Singapore to think of ways to help lawyers develop critical thinking and discernment.

Shashi Nathan, joint managing partner at  Withers KhattarWong, said the programme would help lawyers use AI tools responsibly by verifying outputs, protecting confidentiality, and managing risks like bias.

“Embedding these safeguards early on ensures that innovation supports, rather than undermines, professional standards and client trust,” he told Singapore Business Review in an emailed reply to questions.

Nathan said Withers KhattarWong is testing genAI platforms to help summarise and draft legal documents and support legal research.

“We are very clear that AI is a tool, not a decision-maker,” he said. “Our approach is grounded in caution, training, and human oversight.”

Yeong said training on generative AI would be integrated across the programme modules. Lawyers will learn how to use AI tools to write legal documents and adapt these to fit specific cases.

The programme, designed for lawyers in their first five years of practice, also teaches the business side of law, such as legal fees.

“Law is a business because it is a service,” he said. “They need to learn and pick up very early in their legal careers important things like how to manage clients and how to handle billing.”

“This is something that we set out to provide—a structured framework so that lawyers can start learning these things. I emphasize the words ‘start learning these things’, because it's a lifelong journey.”

Structured training is something junior lawyers seek, and not all firms could provide this, Yeong said.

In the lead-up to the programme’s launch on May 21, SAL encouraged law firms to sign a training pledge since February and SAL has secured commitments from 55 firms and legal organisations.

As many as 70 student lawyers, more than half of the target, signed up for the academy’s Junior Lawyers Professional Certification Programme, Yeong said.

The programme is voluntary. Lawyers can choose between disputes and corporate practice and must complete 11 modules within two straight years to get certified.