Welcome to Attorney Intelligence, where we break down the biggest advancements in AI for legal professionals.

This week, I’m thinking about how prompt engineering—the practice of asking AI defined, well-structured questions to arrive at better answers—is quietly emerging as a meaningful differentiator for both legal professionals and law students. Attorneys who can demonstrate this skill will stand out to hiring managers and unlock opportunities beyond the traditional legal services industry.

Forward-thinking attorneys are peering under the hood

At its core, prompt engineering is the ability to effectively instruct AI systems to produce useful, reliable outputs. Technical jargon aside, the skill is deeply familiar to lawyers, who have leveraged their aptitudes for precise, logical, and structured direction to train generations of young associates.

Lawyers are uniquely positioned to understand how language drives outcomes. But until recently, an attorney’s ability to internalize the mechanics of LLMs—and consequently exploit them—has been undervalued relative to other skills. That is beginning to change. Many attorneys have learned how to use some AI tool and integrate it into their workflows. They’re now interested in maximizing their use of that tool. Doing so requires a deeper-than-surface-level understanding of how legal AI tools actually work.

Recognizing the demand for a deeper knowledge of LLMs among legal professionals, the American Bar Association has begun offering courses on prompt engineering. Law schools, in an effort to pursue their mandate of preparing students for the future, have increased their offerings to develop skills in the same area. Some law schools like Vanderbilt and Cleveland State University now offer certifications in prompt engineering; meanwhile, Harvard Law School has remodeled its notorious CS50 computer science class for lawyers in training. As AI tools become ubiquitous in the legal profession, demonstrating mastery by taking such courses will likely give law students a competitive edge come recruiting season.

Part lawyer, part engineer

Indeed, large firms are starting to ascribe greater value to juniors with proven AI competencies. David Wakeling, head of the AI group at A&O Shearman, highlighted the depth of expertise among the firm’s junior associates when it came to AI on a recent podcast. “I’ve got a load of lawyers on my team who are brilliant at prompt engineering for legal tasks … They can hold their own [in a conversation] with someone who is a data scientist, and they’ll have a good exchange.” He predicted that while overall demand for talented junior lawyers will remain fairly constant over the next five years, individuals who demonstrate this “new expertise” will have a competitive advantage in the hiring market.

The ability to translate legal semantics to LLMs is also creating opportunities for tech-inclined attorneys beyond legal services. Harvey and other legal tech companies like Casetext and Ironclad are hiring lawyers to work as salespeople and solutions architects. Norm AI, a two-month-old startup, is going even further by embedding attorneys directly in product development. The startup claims to have coined the term “legal engineering,” where lawyers build AI agents for legal work. The concept of “legal engineering” is only likely to broaden in the coming months as programs like Claude Code break down the technical barriers facing curious and ambitious attorneys, giving rise to opportunities outside of traditional legal practice.

Prompt but verify

In Wakeling’s view, the best law schools are not only coaching students in prompt engineering, but in validating model outputs. Those who will succeed in the field are the attorneys who can think critically about AI suggestions, double-check citations, and ensure that AI-generated content meets legal and ethical standards. Without iteration, even the most sophisticated prompts can lead to errors or incomplete advice.

That implies that prompt engineering will not replace foundational legal skills. Instead, combining AI fluency with a strong grasp of legal semantics creates a self-reinforcing skill set—and a competitive advantage for attorneys willing to dive below the surface.

Legal Bytes

Here are the latest updates in legal tech and AI:

Harvey acquires Hexus - Legal tech firm Harvey acquired Hexus, a two-year-old startup with a suite of AI tools for creating product demos, videos, and guides (Tech Crunch).

Filevine extends its streak of strategic acquisitions in buying Pincites - Filevine acquired Pincites, an AI-powered drafting and contract redlining tool built for MS Word, after gobbling up Parrot and MedChron last year (PR Newswire).

California state Senate to vote on legislation governing attorneys’ AI use - California lawmakers are considering a new rule that would bar attorneys from entering nonpublic information into public AI systems, as well as other provisions (Bloomberg Law).

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Until next time,

Katon