Young people and AI in dialogue for the future of the legal profession

"During my university years I did not use artificial intelligence, partly because of the prejudice that the academic world harbours'. These words were spoken by Margherita Cappellacci, a practising lawyer at the Milan Bar, during the meeting 'The perspective of young people: use of artificial intelligence systems and the evolution of the legal profession' held on 19 May in Milan as part of the 'Talk to the future' panel cycle. The reality in law firms, however, is often different: 'For jurisprudential research we also make use of AI,' Cappellacci recounts, 'but still traditional databases remain the starting and finishing point of the process. The area in which I use AI less is the drafting of acts: in that case I limit myself to formal review or research of judgments'.

The potential of artificial intelligence as an aid to human intelligence can be grasped by listening to the arguments of Giulio Furitano, a fourth-year law student at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. "I use AI on a daily basis,' Furitano explains, 'as a study support, but also to organise the time I have available to prepare a subject'. However, the young jurist warns against the risk of becoming passive users of AI: human control is always necessary. The personal component of the relationship between lawyer and client, Furitano concludes, is the heart of the profession and cannot be lost.

A reflection, that on the need for the human aspect alongside competence, which Elisa Demma, president of the Forensic Movement, defines as 'comforting'. Allegra Cruciani, who, like Furitano, is a fourth-year law student at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, adds: 'I also use AI, but I agree with those who raise perplexities. It is necessary to bring the debate on the anthropocentric issue into universities and schools'.

The very small difference in age between Cappellacci, Cruciani and Furitano, however, marks a radical paradigm shift between those who found AI in their hands during their final years at university and those who, when they embarked on their academic career, had already had extensive experience of it. "As the younger ones said, they have the opportunity to exploit these tools, which in my opinion, if used well, have great potential," the practising lawyer commented to 'Il Sole 24 Ore'.

Antonio Caterino, councillor of the Milan Bar Association, adds: 'I am afraid that young people are more aware because they have had more time to experiment with AI and in fact have a more refined ability to interrogate systems, as the example of the question on the organisation of the firm shows.