Oct. 7, 2026
AI and flash trials: Are lawyers over-preparing their cases? | Kabateck & Karnikian: Off the Record, Ep. 16
Berkeley Law's flash trial competition gave every competitor full access to AI for the first time. Spencer Pahlke, co-director of the school's trial competition program, joins Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian to discuss how the technology sped up case prep, why lawyers still need to check its work and whether attorneys over-litigate their cases.
When Berkeley Law's flash trial competition gave every participant full access to AI for the first time, it offered a window into how the technology can speed up case preparation without replacing the lawyer's judgment. Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian talk with Spencer Pahlke, a shareholder at Walkup Melodia Kelly & Schoenberger and co-director of Berkeley's trial competition program, about how flash trials work, in which teams go from an unfamiliar 15-to-20-page fact pattern to opening statements in about an hour, and how competitors used AI to digest the record and prioritize what matters. They also discuss the need to double-check AI-generated summaries, whether lawyers over-litigate their cases, and how a faster, leaner approach to trial prep could put more cases in front of juries. Pahlke also recounts the competition's complex criminal fact pattern, UCLA's win, and his podcast, Cause of Action.
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