Fireside chat - Courses and Training AI

Before spending hard-earned money and valuable billable hours on an AI course, every legal practitioner needs to ask a fundamental question: What are you actually paying for?

To be brutally honest, many commercial “AI for lawyers” courses simply repackage basic prompting tips you could easily learn with a little “Hands-On” practice, or worse, serve as vendor demos dressed up as education.

During our recent AI for Lawyers Fireside Chat, we cut through the marketing noise to evaluate whether specialised training is worth the investment, what you should look out for, and the options currently available on the market.

What to Watch Out For: Red Flags in AI Training

Before signing up for any program, keep a close eye out for these common pitfalls:

  • Content has to be up to date – AI is moving at an alarming rate. It should be updated every month.
  • Make sure you don’t already know most of the course from what you have taught yourself, and end up wasting time. Again check the course content.
  • Get references from people you know who have attended the course – not their own “marketing” references.
  • Hands-On – make sure you get your hands dirty, theory is great, but you can get that from AI or a book from Dummies Guide, you want to “Do Stuff”.
  • Hidden Sales Pitches: Be wary of courses tied directly to a specific paid software tool or platform.
  • Non-Legal Instructors: Watch out for trainers with no legal background who do not understand attorney-client privilege, strict confidentiality, or professional conduct rules.
  • Unrealistic Promises: Steer clear of anything promising that AI will completely “replace” meticulous legal research or document drafting rather than assist it.

Self-Learning Suggestion?

I am not suggesting all structured training is bad, just make sure you look closely at what you will be receiving and from whom. Because lawyers have so much to do with a limited amount of time, sitting down in training courses is often not possible.

This is where I would suggest a little discipline and do a self-taught – self-paced hands on exercise.

  • Google AI Essentials: Do this beginner course from Google – no charge and broken down into 15 minute segments.
  • Jump in: Pick any AI provider (Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, Grok), but try to stick with the one you choose and start using it – it does not have to be law related – just start using it – you can start at the same time you start the AI Essentials.
  • Set 30-45minutes a day aside, so that it becomes a habit to learn each day.
  • Ask the AI to advise or teach you – use your prompting to ask things you want to know – it has all the answers, use it while you learn.

Courses Available: Paid and Free Options

Depending on whether you are looking for structured institutional learning or self-paced guides, here is an overview of options ranging from paid professional certifications to free industry resources.

1. GenAI for Legal Teams – A Practical Introduction

2. Legal Drafting & Artificial Intelligence

3. Artificial Intelligence in Legal Practice Training

4. Modular AI Programs (AI+ Series)

  • Provider: iLearn
  • Cost: R1,670.00 for each module
  • Available Modules:
    • AI+ for everyone
    • AI+ Foundation
    • AI+ Legal Agent
  • Link: iLearn Portal

5. Self-Paced Guides & Independent Resources

“Max (AI robot) go ahead and shoot me.“

To ground our conversation on practical reality which was shared by “J”. For an interesting discussion clip regarding AI decision-making boundaries, you can view the reference clip here. (AI shooting the blogger)

Want to join our next session? Lawyers and legal tech enthusiasts can register as members of our ongoing discussions to receive direct invitations to future Zoom sessions at no charge. Check out the details and sign up on our Exclusive AI Lawyer Chats Registration Page.

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