Morpheus

From The Future of Everything

The future of AI and the legal field

Published
July 10, 2026
Length
37:44

Audio is streamed from the publisher.

Chapters

Read from the show notes

  1. 0:00 Introduction**
  2. 2:31 Path into AI and Law**
  3. 5:03 Law, Economics, and Computation**
  4. 7:23 Building the LIFT Lab**
  5. 9:06 Evaluating Legal AI**
  6. 10:22 Improving Legal Services**
  7. 10:57 Rethinking Legal Education**
  8. 11:51 AI in Office Hours**
  9. 15:18 Surprising Results**
  10. 16:16 What the Study Shows**
  11. 18:48 Limits of One-Shot Answers**
  12. 20:59 AI for Social Science**
  13. 22:43 Research Agents**
  14. 24:51 Agentic AI in the Lab**
  15. 26:07 Fairness and Bias**
  16. 27:29 Discrimination in Models**
  17. 30:16 Disparate Impact**
  18. 32:53 From Evidence to Policy**
  19. 34:49 Future In a Minute**
  20. 36:57 Conclusion**

Not from the publisher — times may be approximate.

Law professor [https://law.stanford.edu/julian-nyarko/"]( Julian Nyarko has drawn attention for his studies using large language models to investigate and improve legal education and explore AI’s biases. He hopes AI can become a reliable, always-on legal learning and assistance tool to lower costs and expand access to legal services. In one recent study, he asked a group of law professors to evaluate written answers to student questions. Three-quarters of the time, the professors preferred AI-generated answers to those of their human colleagues. “AI is good at law,” Nyarko says, the challenge now is to use it most effectively, he tells host [https://bioengineering.stanford.edu/people/russ-altman"]( Russ Altman in this episode of Stanford Engineering’s _The Future of Everything_ podcast. _Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode. Please introduce yourself, let us know where you're listening from, and share your question. You can send questions to thefutureofeverything@stanford.edu._ **Episode Reference Links:** - Stanford Profile:[https://law.stanford.edu/julian-nyarko/"]( Julian Nyarko **Connect With Us:** - Episode Transcripts >>>[https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/collection/future-everything-podcast"]( The Future of Everything Website - Connect with Russ >>>[https://www.threads.net/@russbaltman"]( Threads /[https://bsky.app/profile/rbaltman.bsky.social"]( Bluesky /[https://mastodon.social/@rbaltman"]( Mastodon - Connect with School of Engineering >>>[https://twitter.com/stanfordENG"]( Twitter/X /[https://www.instagram.com/stanfordeng/"]( Instagram /[https://www.linkedin.com/school/stanford-university-school-of-engineering/posts/?feedView=all&viewAsMember=true"]( LinkedIn /[https://www.facebook.com/stanford.engineering/"]( Facebook **Chapters:** **(00:00:00) Introduction** Russ Altman introduces guest Julian Nyarko, a professor of law at Stanford University. **(00:02:31) Path into AI and Law** How Nyarko’s early work led him to legal AI. **(00:05:03) Law, Economics, and Computation** How Nyarko’s training, methods, and self-taught coding shaped his research. **(00:07:23) Building the LIFT Lab** Why a law professor started a lab. **(00:09:06) Evaluating Legal AI** How AI raises fundamental questions about what counts as good lawyering. **(00:10:22) Improving Legal Services** Using AI to work faster, reduce errors, and make informed decisions. **(00:10:57) Rethinking Legal Education** How AI may change the way future lawyers learn **(00:11:51) AI in Office Hours** How AI answers law students’ questions compared with human professors. **(00:15:18) Surprising Results** Why AI answers were often preferred **(00:16:16) What the Study Shows** The findings support AI tutoring, but don’t prove AI improves learning. **(00:18:48) Limits of One-Shot Answers** Why real teaching often depends on dialogue, clarification, and productive struggle. **(00:20:59) AI for Social Science** How AI can become both an object of study and a tool. **(00:22:43) Research Agents** Using AI to test claims and make previously impossible research scalable. **(00:24:51) Agentic AI in the Lab** How Socratic dialogue with AI can sharpen research ideas. **(00:26:07) Fairness and Bias** How computational tools can be audited for bias and used to audit decision-making. **(00:27:29) Discrimination in Models** Exploring bias and how it can be reduced. **(00:30:16) Disparate Impact** How policies and systems disadvantage groups even without explicit intent. **(00:32:53) From Evidence to Policy** How Nyarko’s lab works with stakeholders to surface disparities. **(00:34:49) Future In a Minute** Rapid-fire Q&A: justice, talent, and the future of legal AI. **(00:36:57) Conclusion** **Connect With Us:** Episode Transcripts >>> [The">https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/collection/future-everything-podcast">The]( >> [Threads]( https://www.threads.net/@russbaltman">Threads / [Bluesky]( https://bsky.app/profile/rbaltman.bsky.social">Bluesky / [Mastodon]( https://mastodon.social/@rbaltman">Mastodon Connect with School of Engineering >>>[Twitter/X]( https://twitter.com/stanfordENG">Twitter/X / [Instagram]( https://www.instagram.com/stanfordeng/">Instagram / [LinkedIn]( https://www.linkedin.com/school/stanford-university-school-of-engineering/posts/?feedView=all&viewAsMember=true">LinkedIn / [Facebook]( https://www.facebook.com/stanford.engineering/">Facebook Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See [pcm.adswizz.com]( https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.