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AI and automation threaten to erode junior-level work, such as first-draft contract preparation and document review, which has traditionally been critical to training new lawyers. Without intervention, this shift risks leaving junior lawyers without the practical exposure needed to develop essential skills.
Kennedys today announced a strategic collaboration with Spellbook, a leading generative AI platform for lawyers, to tackle this challenge head-on. The partnership will deliver a pioneering legal training programme that helps lawyers build the skills they need as automation and AI change the nature of junior level legal work.
About the programme
Set to launch later this year, the programme will equip the next generation of lawyers with the skills, judgement, and adaptability needed to thrive in a market where many traditional entry-level tasks are increasingly automated. It will combine Kennedys’ deep expertise in legal practice and professional development with Spellbook’s cutting-edge legal drafting and analysis technology.
John Bruce, Senior Partner, says: “As AI accelerates change across the legal sector, we have a responsibility to ensure junior lawyers aren’t left behind. This programme is about creating AI-fluent lawyers: professionals who can combine deep legal reasoning with the ability to work seamlessly alongside AI tools. Our collaboration with Spellbook is a forward-looking investment in the profession’s future, putting our people first whilst addressing head-on the efficiency opportunities and gaps that AI and automation are creating.”
The Kennedys and Spellbook training programme will use simulated scenarios and AI-assisted drafting exercises to replicate learning opportunities that may start to disappear in the workplace. Participants will receive structured feedback on their work, mirroring the coaching traditionally gained from senior colleagues.
Catherine Goodman, Chief Knowledge Officer, and Honorary Professor in Law at Queen Mary University, London, adds: “The Spellbook team really understood our concerns about a potential knowledge gap caused by technology, and our excitement about how to solve for that leveraging technology: using AI to nurture our junior lawyers’ learning, and support their professional development.”
Scott Stevenson, Spellbook CEO and co-founder comments: “Kennedys is taking a bold and necessary step in preparing lawyers, and their clients, for an AI-powered future. By embedding Spellbook into a structured learning environment, they’re ensuring the next generation doesn’t just survive technological change, but leads it.”
A model for the industry
The collaboration represents one of the first large-scale initiatives in the legal sector to directly address AI’s impact on early-career training. The programme will be piloted first across our US and UK offices, with plans to share learnings across the profession.
United Kingdom
United States