Tanya Sadoughi is Linklaters' AI and Innovation Lead Lawyer for Global Banking. When ChatGPT launched one month into her innovation secondment, she saw the opportunity before most others did. She talked to every lawyer in the banking practice, mapped every pain point, and built a working prototype herself.

That prototype became the WIP Summariser, now deployed firmwide. Today she leads a team of five AI lawyers inside a global network of twenty.

Vibe coding is changing how lawyers work. Not by replacing them, but by turning them into builders. Tanya explains what that looks like inside a major international law firm. From hackathons that spark curiosity to agentic systems that solve problems at scale.

You'll learn

• Why the AI lawyer role should always be filled internally
• How a weekend prototype became an enterprise tool at Linklaters
• What vibecoding means for the legal profession
• Why hackathons are the best way to spark AI curiosity at law firms
• How Linklaters scaled from one to twenty AI lawyers
• What lawyers and engineers can learn from each other

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction

2:04 Will lawyers become builders

4:53 Growing up in a pizza shop in South Yorkshire

9:17 A viral YouTube channel at 15

11:16 Why she chose law

13:29 Becoming a banking lawyer at Linklaters

15:42 The itch for something different

17:35 ChatGPT launches one month into her innovation role

19:28 First experiments with large language models

23:18 The billing problem nobody could solve

27:26 Learning Python on weekends

31:31 The moment the prototype worked

35:31 Hackathons and sparking curiosity at law firms

40:23 From one AI lawyer to twenty

43:47 Vibecoding five apps in one week

46:31 What engineers and lawyers can learn from each other

51:23 Why every law firm needs an AI lawyer

53:01 More builders not more tools

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In this episode of Legal AI Lab, Soledad Atienza, Dean of IE Law School, explains why legal education must move beyond national systems and embrace a global legal mindset.

AI makes legal knowledge more accessible than ever. That means law schools must shift their focus. From memorising content to developing critical thinking. From national silos to comparative principles. From narrow specialisation to multidisciplinary awareness.

We discuss:

• Why law schools should not ban AI but guide its use

• How assessments must change in an AI world

• Why students must learn to question AI outputs

• Why demand for legal services is growing, not shrinking

• The importance of human skills such as empathy, negotiation and teamwork

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hoofdstukken

00:00 Lawyers as architects of society

02:47 National regulation vs global practice

06:18 From systems to principles

09:42 Knowledge vs judgment in the AI era

14:11 Growing demand for legal services

17:36 Embedding AI across the curriculum

22:04 Teaching students to question AI

26:53 Rethinking assessment in an AI world

32:27 Generalists and multidisciplinary thinking

37:12 Human skills in a tech driven profession

41:05 Experiential learning and VR

44:38 Habits future lawyers must build

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In deze aflevering van Legal AI Lab spreekt Hidde Bruinsma met Elgar Weijtmans over wat het betekent om jurist te zijn in een tijdperk van generatieve AI.

Elgar vertelt waarom hij zichzelf een generalist noemt. Waarom juist die brede blik steeds waardevoller wordt. En waarom advocatenkantoren die wachten op perfect beleid of volledige zekerheid zichzelf in de weg zitten.

Het gesprek gaat over experimenteren. Over kleine teams. Over sandboxes in plaats van olietankers. En over waarom training, cultuur en menselijk gedrag uiteindelijk belangrijker zijn dan de technologie zelf.

Ook bespreken we hoe advocatenkantoren omgaan met weerstand. Waarom vroege adoptie soms vooral geluk is. En waarom AI niet vraagt om minder mensen, maar om andere vaardigheden.

Een aflevering voor studenten. Voor jonge juristen. Voor partners. En voor iedereen die voelt dat het klassieke carrièrepad schuurt.

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hoofdstukken

0:00 Introductie en het pad van Elgar

1:10 Generalist zijn in de advocatuur

2:59 Waarom AI een kans is voor generalisten

4:14 Het klassieke carrièrepad onder druk

6:08 Waarom experimenteren essentieel is

9:20 De eerste kennismaking met ChatGPT

11:28 Verandering organiseren binnen een groot kantoor

13:52 Waarom timing soms geluk is

15:15 Training is belangrijker dan technologie

18:56 Worden advocatenkantoren techbedrijven

21:53 Een nieuw profiel voor jonge juristen

24:40 Zichtbaarheid. Kennis delen. Cultuur

27:23 Waarom hyperpersoonlijk werkt

30:48 De zoektocht naar juridische AI tools

33:24 De trechter. Niet het resultaat maar het proces

36:24 Waarom testen altijd contextafhankelijk is

40:23 Van generieke AI naar juridisch onderzoek

45:22 Richtlijnen en onzekerheid in de markt

48:52 Open benchmarks en samenwerking

51:44 Voorspellingen voor 2026

54:31 Advies aan jonge juristen

55:55 Afsluiting

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In this episode of Legal AI Lab, Hidde Bruinsma speaks with Thibault Schrepel, Associate Professor of Law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and founder of Stanford’s Computational Antitrust Project.

Schrepel explains why banning AI creates distorted competition, why AI detection does not work, and why law schools must rethink how they teach and assess students instead of trying to preserve outdated systems.

Based on a two year classroom experiment, he shows what happens when students use AI without guidance, with guidance, or not at all. The results challenge common fears about shortcuts and show why AI can strengthen learning when used deliberately.

The conversation also dives into the limits of future proof regulation, the challenges of the EU AI Act, and how AI is already changing law firm business models, billing structures, and the role of junior lawyers.

AI is not ending the legal profession. It is removing the most tedious work and increasing the value of human judgment, creativity, and strategy.

It forces legal education to confront how lawyers actually create value.

You’ll learn

• Why banning AI in law schools creates inequality rather than fairness

• What actually happens when students use AI in legal education

• Why detecting AI generated work does not work at scale

• How legal education must change exams and teaching methods

• Why future proof regulation is impossible and adaptive law is necessary

• How the EU AI Act struggles with fast technological change

• Why hourly billing is under pressure

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Its AI navigates law like a human legal professional. Secure, transparent and grounded in authoritative sources.

Visit zeno.law and make deep thinking your competitive edge.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction.

3:05 Fear, prohibition and the illusion of control

7:40 There is no hiding from AI in legal practice

12:20 What really goes wrong when lawyers misuse AI

17:30 AI does not replace reasoning. It exposes weak reasoning

22:45 Judges, responsibility and meaningful human control

28:30 Why AI literacy matters more than technical skill

33:50 New legal markets beyond traditional law firms

38:40 Why old billing models are under pressure

43:10 The EU AI Act. Guardrails, risk categories and legal responsibility

47:40 What the AI Act means for lawyers, judges and legal education

50:10 Final reflection. Regulation as a condition for trust

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In deze aflevering spreekt Hidde Bruinsma met Jos Smits, Programmamanager AI bij de Rechtspraak, over deepfakes, bewijsproblemen, hallucinerende modellen en de ontwikkeling van RechtspraakGPT.

Jos legt uit waarom klassieke ideeën over bewijs en waarheidsvinding niet langer houdbaar zijn in een tijdperk waarin beelden, stemmen en documenten volledig te vervalsen zijn. En waarom AI niet de rechter vervangt, maar wel de manier waarop rechters werken ingrijpend zal veranderen.

Je hoort onder meer:

• Hoe deepfakes het bewijsrecht fundamenteel uitdagen

• Waarom AI soms de bewijslast juist omdraait

• Wat RechtspraakGPT wel en niet zal kunnen

• Hoe de rechtspraak verantwoord met LLMs wil werken

• Waarom menselijke oordeelsvorming belangrijker wordt in een AI-wereld

Deze aflevering is onmisbaar voor iedereen die nadenkt over de toekomst van recht, waarheidsvinding en technologie.

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Its AI navigates law like a human legal professional. Secure, transparent and grounded in authoritative sources.

Visit zeno.law and make deep thinking your competitive edge.

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Pietro Ortolani, Professor of Digital Law and Dispute Resolution at Radboud University, reveals why major platforms like Meta, Amazon and eBay already operate the largest dispute resolution systems on the planet. Much larger than any court we know. And far faster.

In this wide ranging conversation, Pietro explains how platforms became de facto courts, why automation and AI already settle the vast majority of online disputes, and what the legal world can learn from this silent revolution. He shows how young lawyers can create new forms of online courts, why the hourly billing model is collapsing and why this moment is the best time in history to enter the legal profession.

You will hear why justice at scale is possible, how the Digital Services Act is reshaping content moderation and why the next generation of lawyers should build the future instead of fearing it.

What you will learn

• How online platforms created the world’s largest dispute resolution systems

• Why AI already handles the majority of disputes you never hear about

• What judges and lawyers must understand about automated decision making

• How the DSA creates a new market for out of court dispute resolution

• Why law students should embrace creativity instead of fearing automation

• How AI can act as a mirror for judicial bias

• Why this is the best moment in history to become a lawyer

Quote

“It has never been a better or more interesting time to be a lawyer.”

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This episode is powered by Zeno. Zeno is an AI native legal workspace built for Dutch and EU law.

Its AI navigates law like a human legal professional. Secure, transparent and grounded in authoritative sources.

Visit zeno.law and make deep thinking your competitive edge.

Chapters

0:00 Opening

1:03 What platforms can teach us about dispute resolution

3:14 How eBay accidentally built the first online court

6:18 Why platforms settle billions of disputes without judges

8:49 The limits of automated moderation

11:09 Should we fear the Amazonification of justice

13:27 The Oversight Board as a model for modern justice

16:42 The rise of a new market for digital dispute resolution

18:58 Can we copy these systems into public courts

21:12 How AI empowers rather than replaces judges

24:11 AI as a mirror for judicial bias

26:32 The real danger of private control over public justice

27:49 Do we already have a robot judge

30:00 Why banning AI in courts makes no sense

31:52 What young lawyers can build in this new legal world

34:48 How the DSA transforms transparency and fairness

38:22 Can we create global standards for algorithmic justice

42:01 Why innovation meets resistance inside the legal sector

45:11 What esports teach us about fast and fair dispute resolution

48:46 Should law schools ban AI or embrace it

51:31 Why this is the best moment to become a lawyer

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Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament and lead negotiator of the EU AI Act, joins Legal AI Lab to reveal what really happened behind the scenes during the 36-hour negotiation that defined how artificial intelligence will be governed in Europe.

He explains how Big Tech lobbying tried to weaken the rules, why trust and transparency are key to innovation, and how the so-called “Brussels effect” could make the EU’s AI law a global benchmark.

Together with host Hidde Bruinsma, Benifei discusses how Europe’s human-first approach contrasts with the U.S. and China, and what this means for the future of AI, law, and democracy.

You’ll learn

• How the EU AI Act became the world’s first comprehensive AI law
• Why trust and accountability are essential for innovation
• What role Big Tech lobbying played in shaping the final text
• How the Brussels effect exports EU rules to the rest of the world
• What comes next for AI regulation and enforcement in Europe

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This episode is powered by Zeno. Zeno is an AI-native legal workspace built for Dutch and EU law.

Its AI navigates law like a human legal professional—secure, transparent, and grounded in authoritative sources.

Visit zeno.law and make deep thinking your competitive edge.

____

Chapters

0:00 Introduction – Who is Brando Benifei and why the AI Act matters

1:45 How the idea of an AI law in Europe began

3:20 The 36-hour negotiation that shaped the AI Act

6:15 Inside the political pressure and Big Tech lobbying

9:10 Balancing innovation with regulation

11:40 Why trust and transparency drive progress

14:05 The Brussels Effect – how EU laws shape the world

16:25 What makes the AI Act different from U.S. and China approaches

18:40 How AI regulation impacts startups and small companies

21:00 Human rights, bias, and the ethical limits of AI

23:30 Enforcement: how the AI Act will actually work in practice

25:15 What comes after the AI Act

27:00 Closing thoughts – AI, democracy, and the future of trust

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Manuella van der Put, raadsheer bij het Gerechtshof ’s-Hertogenbosch en onderzoeker naar kunstmatige intelligentie in de rechtspraak, ziet grote kansen en fundamentele vragen. Ze praat over de grenzen van AI, de rol van emotie in rechtvaardigheid en het risico dat technologie beslissingen neemt die we zelf niet meer begrijpen.

In dit gesprek van Legal AI Lab gaat het over de spanning tussen mens en machine in de rechtszaal. Kan een AI-systeem rechtvaardig zijn? Wat betekent empathie in een digitale rechtsgang? En hoe zorgen we ervoor dat AI ons helpt beter te oordelen, in plaats van het oordeel over te nemen?

*Het systeem dat Manuella in dit interview noemde heet RechtspraakGPT en is ontwikkeld door de Raad voor de rechtspraak. Belangrijk: het systeem ondersteunt alleen bij tekstverwerking (samenvatten, vertalen, aanpassen van stijl), maar spreekt nadrukkelijk geen recht en geeft geen juridische oordelen. Het is zo ontworpen dat het dit type vragen weigert.

In deze aflevering

• Wat AI nu al doet binnen de rechtspraak – van samenvatten tot anoniem maken van uitspraken
• Waarom de menselijke maat onmisbaar blijft in een geautomatiseerd rechtsstelsel
• Hoe AI rechters kan helpen eigen vooroordelen te herkennen
• Waarom AI geen empathie kan voelen en waar de grens van technologie ligt
• Hoe AI de toegang tot het recht voor burgers kan vergroten

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Minesh Tanna, Partner at Simmons & Simmons and Chair of the City of London Law Society AI Committee, warns that the legal profession is changing faster than lawyers are adapting.

In this episode of Legal AI Lab, Tanna discusses how AI is reshaping law firms, replacing manual tasks, and redefining what it means to be a lawyer. He shares what keeps him up at night: if junior lawyers no longer do the groundwork that builds judgment and instinct, what will the senior lawyers of the future look like?

Tanna also explains why firms that still fear AI are making the same mistake as those who once refused to use computers and why embracing AI responsibly is now the only way forward.

You’ll learn:

• Why the traditional training model for young lawyers is breaking
• How AI is changing the skills and instincts lawyers need to succeed
• Why law firms must build AI literacy across every level
• How “the human edge” will define the lawyers who thrive in the AI era

Follow and subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with colleagues and friends.

This episode is brought to you by LegalMike, the smartest AI assistant built for the Dutch legal practice. Visit www.legalmike.ai to discover how LegalMike can boost your practice.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction and how AI is changing the legal world

1:18 Why law firms are still slow to adapt

3:04 The future of young lawyers and what keeps Minesh up at night

5:27 If juniors don’t learn, who becomes tomorrow’s senior lawyer

8:42 How AI will redefine the human edge in law

10:15 Being scared of AI is like refusing to use computers in the 80s

12:36 Building Percy, the AI system transforming Simmons & Simmons

14:58 Law firms of the future with fewer lawyers and more technologists

16:45 The business model of law is already shifting

18:33 How lawyers can adapt and stay relevant in the age of AI

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In this episode of Legal AI Lab, hosts Hidde Bruinsma and Martijn Doornbos speak with Professor Richard Susskind, the world’s leading voice on the future of law and technology.

Together they explore how artificial intelligence is transforming legal education, reshaping law firms, and expanding access to justice.

From short-term automation in law practice to long-term innovation that empowers non-lawyers, this conversation highlights the profound digital transformation underway in the legal system.

You will learn:

• Why banning AI in law schools risks leaving future lawyers unprepared for digital legal practice
• How young lawyers can adapt when AI automates routine legal work in law firms
• The difference between task automation and innovation in legal technology
• How AI can empower citizens to solve disputes and prevent legal problems without traditional lawyers
• Why we must prepare now for artificial general intelligence (AGI) and its impact on justice systems

Follow and subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with colleagues and friends.

This episode is brought to you by LegalMike, the smartest AI assistant built for the Dutch legal practice. Visit www.legalmike.ai to discover how LegalMike can boost your practice.

Chapters

00:02 AI in legal education

12:45 Rethinking the lawyer’s role

19:30 The challenge for young lawyers

33:00 Empowering non-lawyers

54:00 Preparing for AGI

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