Technology,
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Sep. 5, 2025
The Lincoln Restoration: How AI is returning lawyers to their counselor roots
As AI commoditizes the technical skills that have dominated legal education for over a century, lawyers are rediscovering what Abraham Lincoln always knew: clients seek wisdom only humans can provide.
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Abraham Lincoln never heard the phrase "billable
hour." When he died in 1865, lawyers were still primarily counselors. Five
years later, Harvard Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell began the
transformation that would emphasize legal analysis over client counseling -- a model
that artificial intelligence is now fundamentally challenging.
Today, as AI commoditizes t...
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