Aspiring lawyers must still master core law subjects in AI age, says senior judge
updated on 05 May 2026
Olivia Thorne (she/her) is the content manager at LawCareers.Net
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Aspiring lawyers will still need to study core law modules despite the rapid rise of AI, the Master of the Rolls has argued, despite the growing reliance on AI in completing routine legal research.
Speaking at the Association of Law Teachers’ conference at the University of Exeter, Sir Geoffrey Vos stressed that future lawyers must “understand the basic parameters of contract, tort, criminal, family law, company law, administrative and property law”, according to Legal Cheek. He argued that a strong grounding in the fundamentals is essential for lawyers to explain, test and contextualise AI‑generated legal outputs for clients.
Vos also acknowledged the challenge this poses for legal educators, particularly as AI becomes more capable of completing the analytical groundwork.
Addressing what he described as the “TikTok generation”, Vos argued that they have grown up with instant, machine‑delivered information and warned against assuming that they understand justice in the same way as older generations. This, he said, makes robust legal education more important than ever.
Beyond core modules, the Master of the Rolls also called for wider reforms to legal training, including teaching ethics “through a new lens” and making subjects such as data protection and cybersecurity compulsory.
