Roughly two-thirds of BigLaw attorneys said they received training on generative AI from their firms, compared with 40% of attorneys at midsize firms and under 15% of small-law practitioners, according to Law360 Pulse's 2025 AI Survey.
Thor Alden, associate director of innovation at Dechert LLP, told Law360 Pulse that one of the reasons BigLaw firms are training attorneys on how to use AI tools is to minimize risks like fake case citations showing up in court. Fake case citations can occur when AI programs "hallucinate" or output false information.
"If you look at larger firms versus mid-tier firms, a lot of the larger firms are much more advanced when it comes to using AI and having tools, and a necessary component for most tools is that training," he said.
The report is based on the responses of nearly 400 attorneys at private U.S. law firms who completed the second Law360 Pulse AI Survey, conducted from November 2024 to January 2025. Attorneys were asked about their use of generative AI, views on the technology, firm training and policies, and more.
AI Training Ramps Up
BigLaw firm leaders told Law360 Pulse that they started providing training on generative AI in the months leading up to the November 2022 release of OpenAI's ChatGPT or in the months following the conversational bot's debut.
Fisher Phillips started training attorneys on how to use generative AI before the release of ChatGPT as part of its partnership with legal tech company Casetext to pilot and test its AI assistant CoCounsel, according to Evan Shenkman, chief knowledge and innovation officer at Fisher Phillips. Thomson Reuters acquired Casetext in 2023.
Before attorneys used CoCounsel, they needed training on generative AI and how it worked, Shenkman said.
He added that after the release of ChatGPT, the firm also had to train its lawyers on the differences between legal AI tools like CoCounsel and public tools like ChatGPT.
"Ever since then, our attorneys have been using a growing number of gen AI tools, and we've been training attorneys on those tools as well, as well as continuing to train our attorneys on the public gen AI tools like the ChatGPTs of the world," Shenkman said.
BigLaw firms that started training attorneys on how to use generative AI in the months following ChatGPT's release include Husch Blackwell LLP, K&L Gates LLP, Dechert, Troutman Pepper Locke LLP, Jackson Lewis PC and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, according to firm leaders.
Eric Felsberg, principal at Jackson Lewis and co-leader of the firm's AI service group, said that the firm started training attorneys on how to use generative AI to reduce risks following the release of ChatGPT.
"We were concerned that AI was kind of like the Wild West, and everybody was just kind of trying out different tools … and there really needed to be some ground rules about when they could be used, how they should be used [and] how they should not be used," he said.
Since BigLaw firms first started educating their lawyers on how to use generative AI, their training programs have evolved to include multiple types of learning sessions and more practice-specific instruction.
BigLaw's AI training programs include hackathons, lunch-and-learns, short videos, one-on-one sessions, virtual and in-person lessons, pop-up notifications, biweekly email success stories and more, according to firm leaders.
Kristen Baylis, senior director of practice and innovation at Jackson Lewis, said that the firm's first generative AI training for attorneys was on its policy around the technology, risks, benefits and ethical implications.
In addition to mandatory training on firm policy, Jackson Lewis now also offers sessions for specific tools, use cases and practice groups or business departments.
"Any successful training program needs to have multiple components that meet people where they are in their own journey with legal tech and innovation and AI," Baylis said.
Gina Lynch, chief knowledge and innovation officer at Paul Weiss, said when the firm first started training attorneys on generative AI, they tried using a PowerPoint presentation that covered ethical responsibility, client confidentiality and prompt engineering, and found that to be ineffective.
Iris Skornicki, director of AI innovation strategy at Paul Weiss, added that now the firm has one session to cover general AI education and a second hands-on workshop for prompt engineering.
"We've definitely realized that there's a place for every type of training, but what we've learned is that that dynamic training model is critical to really having lawyers understand how the technology works," Lynch said.
Vendor Training Finds Its Footing
Some BigLaw firms also have legal tech companies provide tool-specific training to their attorneys.
Law360 Pulse's 2025 AI Survey found about a third of BigLaw attorneys said they have received generative AI training from their firm and another source.
BigLaw firms that have their lawyers go through vendors' AI tool training include Troutman, Fisher Phillips, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Husch Blackwell, Jackson Lewis and Paul Weiss, according to firm leaders.
Leaders from Jackson Lewis and Paul Weiss said they prefer to collaborate with vendors to create AI training sessions that are tailored specifically for their lawyers.
"Off-the-shelf training from a vendor is not going to be as effective as if it's co-produced with internal folks," Baylis of Jackson Lewis said.
Marissa Dragoo, principal and senior director of learning at Jackson Lewis, added, "When we do partner with an outside vendor, we spend a lot of time in that design phase making sure that it's really going to hit the right chord for our specific audience."
A couple of BigLaw firms have joined forces with online education platforms to create AI training. K&L Gates partnered with AltaClaro, a provider of interactive legal training, on generative AI training for associates as well as a generative AI supervisory course for partners. Troutman teamed up with Brainyacts, an AI-focused platform for legal professionals, to create a multiple-module generative AI training course.
Brendan Gutierrez McDonnell, partner at K&L Gates, and Carolyn Austin, director of practice innovation at the firm, said their firm sees value in offering attorneys general AI training and role-specific instruction like its supervisory course, as well as providing training in different formats such as online content and hackathons.
"The beauty of having a holistic AI education strategy is that you can bring the best of those things together," Austin said.
Some BigLaw firms don't use legal tech companies to train their attorneys on generative AI for different reasons.
About 40% of BigLaw attorneys said their firm was building its own internal generative AI tool, compared with 18% of attorneys at midsize firms and 9% of small-law practitioners, according to the report.
Skornicki of Paul Weiss said that when law firms do their own AI training, they can address pitfalls and risks associated with the technology, whereas vendors are more focused on their products.
Training To Boost AI Adoption
In addition to mitigating risks, an objective of training BigLaw attorneys on how to use generative AI is increasing tool adoption, which can increase productivity, according to law firm leaders.
Data from the Law360 Pulse report seems to suggest that generative AI training could lead to wider tool adoption. Eighty percent of frequent and 76% of infrequent attorney users of AI said they received training from their firm or another source or both, while 71% of nonusers received no training, according to the report.
"A lot of the tools, particularly with Microsoft Copilot, can assist in lowering the amount of nonbillable, unproductive time spent responding to emails, processing meeting notes [and] assembling task lists," he said.
BigLaw leaders said that they have many goals for their AI training programs in 2025 including adding different education formats, expanding training to business departments and clients, and internally promoting successful AI use cases.
Matt Jedreski, counsel at Davis Wright, said that this year the firm wants everyone to complete basic AI training and create more AI-focused roles.
"We are working to get more people into roles like mine, basically embedded in each group or department, who are coming together and being part of our formal AI organization … [and] serving as liaisons to their own departments," he said.
Alison Grounds, managing partner of Troutman's tech subsidiary eMerge, said law firms that haven't begun training their attorneys on how to use generative AI need to start with the basics.
"You need the baseline generic trainings to understand conceptually how large language models and generative AI works, because that's different than the more classic AI we've been using for decades," Grounds said.
--Editing by Sarah Golin, Orlando Lorenzo and Pamela Wilkinson. Graphics by Jason Mallory.
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