AI Is Changing The Way Junior Lawyers Learn Judgement

AI can explain a tricky land law rule in seconds. That’s useful. But a LexisNexis report published earlier this year shows how AI is changing the way junior lawyers learn judgement, and the findings should make every SQE candidate pause.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 T𝗵𝗲 S𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 F𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱

LexisNexis surveyed 873 legal professionals across the UK and Ireland between December 2025 and January 2026. The productivity gains are real. More than half of lawyers using any AI tool said they now produce work faster.

The worry sits elsewhere. Asked about the biggest skills gap in junior lawyers, 72% pointed to deep legal reasoning and argumentation. Another 69% said new lawyers lack the skills to check sources and verify what AI gives them. Only 2% thought AI mainly strengthens learning.

The Director of Legal Technology at Eversheds Sutherland, summed up the problem. New lawyers will pick up AI quickly, but they won’t yet have the experience “to know when an output is wrong.”

Juniors feel this too. Just over half of associates (51%) said they worry about relying on AI too much, compared with 45% of legal leaders.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 T𝗵𝗶𝘀 M𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 I𝗳 Y𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 S𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 T𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗤𝗘

The traditional route built judgement slowly. Trainees read long contracts, worked through case law and learned by getting things wrong. AI now handles much of that groundwork, so juniors reach complex work sooner, often before they’ve developed the instinct to question what’s in front of them.

This is the gap I keep coming back to on SQE Journey. The exam tests what you know. Practice will test whether you can spot an answer that looks right but isn’t. Firms are already paying attention. Taylor Wessing told LexisNexis it is starting to value judgement and client leadership more than technical output in conversations about progression.

𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 T𝗵𝗲 H𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 N𝗼𝘄

The report’s main recommendation is to treat AI as a thinking partner, an idea two thirds of respondents supported. Just over half (52%) also backed exercises where juniors check AI answers against authoritative sources.

You don’t need a training contract to start. While you revise, try this:

• When AI explains a rule, check it against your course materials or the SRA’s assessment specification before you rely on it.
• Answer a practice question yourself first. Then ask AI to argue for a different option and see whether your reasoning holds.
• Ask where an answer comes from, then go and find that source yourself.
• Keep a note every time AI gets something wrong. That list will teach you more than the times it was right.

Read the full article: The mentorship gap AI can help new lawyers to search, summarise, draft, and reason. But can it teach?