The world is obsessed with AI. Should you make a legal career of it?

For law students and recent graduates wondering where to place their career bets, David Lisson has a suggestion: artificial intelligence might be your ticket to expertise in an emerging field that's only getting bigger.

Lisson, a partner in Davis Polk's IP litigation group and head of the firm's GenAI litigation initiative, sees major opportunities for junior attorneys willing to dive deep into how AI models actually work. "This is an area where the junior attorney can become an expert in something and be the go-to person on this," he said during a recent interview with Cal Lawyer.

The reasoning is straightforward: while senior attorneys focus on big-picture strategy, someone needs to understand the technical details, Lisson said.

"If you come and figure out what this model is doing and how it's doing it, you'll be the one that the senior attorney comes to," Lisson explained. "And you'll be the one that the client comes to because you're the one that understands what's actually going on."

Why Davis Polk created a dedicated AI practice

Davis Polk established its GenAI litigation initiative about two years ago, driven by a perfect storm of client need and legal uncertainty. According to Lisson, company boards were pressuring executives to jump into AI following ChatGPT's public debut, but "there wasn't a lot of thinking about what that means from a risk perspective."

The firm anticipated a litigation wave for two key reasons: companies were moving quickly into uncharted territory, and existing legal doctrines would need to adapt to new technology. "The law hadn't changed, right? There was this big technological development. And so a lot of the basic legal doctrines that we'd become used to would have to adapt," Lisson said.

The expanding legal landscape

While copyright cases involving AI training models dominate current headlines, Lisson sees broader challenges ahead. Traditional intellectual property disputes around patents and trade secrets will multiply, but AI also touches nearly every other area of law.

Privacy issues loom large due to the massive data feeding these tools. Product liability questions arise when AI makes mistakes or causes harm. Employment discrimination cases could emerge from biased algorithms affecting hiring decisions. Even securities law comes into play regarding disclosure obligations about AI use, Lisson said.

"AI really touches on almost everything else," Lisson noted, describing the current moment as "just the beginning" of a much larger wave.

Keys to success in high-stakes litigation

For those entering this space, Lisson, a history major who describes himself as a "trial lawyer who happens to do technology cases," emphasizes balancing detail-oriented work with big-picture thinking. "The trick to it is really balancing, staying on top of the details while keeping an eye on the big picture," he said.

His advice extends beyond AI to any technology-focused legal career: "Don't be afraid of technology cases and IP cases. They are fun. You learn a lot... you don't need to be a PhD in electrical engineering. You just have to be interested in it."

For junior lawyers, his formula for success remains consistent: "I always say, become an expert in something." In AI law, that opportunity appears to be wide open.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools.