The future of litigation training: AI-powered, human-driven

In early September, UC Berkeley School of Law hosted the fourth Annual National Flash Trial Competition (NFTC) at the JAMS Conference Center in San Francisco. Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger was a proud sponsor for the fourth year in a row.

Twenty top students from 10 leading law schools, 23 trials in three hectic days. Just 45 minutes to prepare for trials lasting about an hour, judged by local practitioners. Participants face off in teams of two, plus a coach -- and this year, an AI assistant.

Since its launch in 2022, NFTC has been a mock trial competition unlike any other.

A cornerstone of trial advocacy training, mock trials offer an intense, but ultimately low-stakes bridge between classroom learning and real-world practice. In the traditional format, where students have days or weeks to prepare a case, it's easy to become focused on executing a perfect performance. While rehearsal is important, it can take you only so far. In real court proceedings, the unexpected happens often -- you have to be ready and able to respond to game-changing curveballs.

The flash format raises the stakes in mock trials. Rather than simulating courtroom proceedings in a relatively slow, controlled and structured environment, a flash trial's exponentially condensed and accelerated format allows no time for polish. Like improv does for actors, these lightning-speed trials help emerging attorneys learn to think fast, trust their instincts and pivot on a dime; it helps them develop nerves of steel and stay calm and clear-headed in the chaotic hot seat. Flash trials test not only knowledge and skill, but also students' ability to synthesize and strategize quickly, and deliver under intense pressure.

Students learn how to accomplish the maximum in just 45 minutes of focused preparation, and, even more importantly, how to home in on and apply the skills that matter most. As a bonus, after completing several 60-minute trials, any normal-length proceeding feels easy by comparison.

New tools for the next generation of lawyers

Trial advocacy is always evolving with new tools and technologies. Our firm co-hosts this event not only as a way of giving back, but also to help prepare the next generation of attorneys for the courtroom of the future.

Disruptive technologies are bringing rapid change across nearly every sector. Artificial intelligence is already impacting the legal field, in positive and perhaps some negative ways (there have certainly been high-profile fails). Inevitably, AI will shape how we prepare for and perform in the courtroom. It's vital for emerging attorneys to experiment with these tools now, learn how to harness what's most powerful -- and when the human element is irreplaceable.

So this year, we introduced yet another element of the unfamiliar and unpredictable to the flash format: an AI assistant named Eve.

NFTC partnered with Eve Legal, an AI platform for personal injury law, to give students access to cutting-edge tools before and during trial prep. Students were offered an online introductory seminar and had several weeks to familiarize themselves with the platform before the competition began.

It was a first for Eve, too -- the platform had not yet been used in a high-speed trial format. For all involved, the competition offered a unique view into how AI would perform under tight constraints.

At the competition, we recorded every trial so we could analyze how AI impacts strategy, speed, and advocacy under pressure. After the event, we talked with the winning team -- from the University of Maryland School of Law, Abdullah Khan, Thomas Azari, and their coach, Benjamin Garmoe -- about the NFTC experience, how they used Eve, what worked and what didn't, and how they predict they'll incorporate AI tools in their future practice.

This was Thomas Azari's (2L) first time at NFTC, but he's no stranger to mock trial competitions. He began in undergrad and now coaches his former team. "But those were vastly different," he said. "Flash trial is an amazing format, I love it. It feels like a true test of trial advocacy in a way that no other competition does. Something you can't get from the classroom."

Regarding Eve, Azari noted that in addition to doing the live online training provided, he "played around" with the AI platform regularly for a couple of weeks prior to the competition. That practice helped him zero in on how to create the best prompts to get what he needed from Eve.

Abdullah Khan (3L), Azari's teammate, was also at NFTC for the first time, but he, too, brought a wealth of mock trial experience, from high school, college, law school and coaching.

Khan told us, "One thing that was really important going into it was having a formula. Typically, you take a lot of time, analyze everything, memorize and build a plan from there. But it's impossible to know a case cold in 60 minutes. We had to come into it knowing we were going to structure each element of the trial in a certain way and fit the facts into those elements. I think that focus made the writing better. And having that framework gives you freedom to take more chances, go off script, trust yourself, trust your instincts."

Khan also talked about how NFTC builds confidence and flexibility. "The hardest thing in mock trial and real life practice is adjusting to the unexpected." Flash trial, he said, teaches you to hear, react and respond in real time. "This made me a lot more confident that if all hell breaks loose, I have a baseline to go back to."

Interestingly, Khan felt that Eve, despite its speed, was challenging to use in the flash format -- time spent prompting it could be better used brainstorming -- but he's interested in applying AI in lengthier competitions. Like Azari, he believes the creative part of the practice, the art of trial, demands the human element, but that Eve could be useful "less to generate work and more to check work." 

Azari agrees. "As to the efficacy of AI in the legal space, I think it will be useful in some ways. But the safest hands are always going to be our own. The legal profession is a uniquely human one, and human experience is essential to the system functioning in a moral way. I don't think the system is perfect, but, as with artistic expression -- there's no way to make the 'perfect' Jackson Pollock painting -- I don't think AI is the way to write the 'perfect' closing argument."

Coach Ben Garmoe emphasized that the AI tool seemed helpful in "giving a broad outline, a broad overview." He thinks it can be a good starting point, such as doing a simultaneous first read of a case. "And then you have the opportunity to compare and say, okay, this is what I think about the case, this is what Eve thinks about the case and synthesize those. It allows me to feel more confident in my initial analysis, or maybe it catches something I missed; it gives me the foundation to dig into the more specific elements of analyzing a case."

Khan added, "I'm really appreciative of the competition for including this element. I know many classmates and colleagues who have felt hesitant to broach the AI space, but as I progress in my legal career and work in different offices, I see that it's slowly taking over."

About the winning team he coached, Garmoe said, "I pick veteran students who have a lot of experience, who I know can handle the rigors [of the flash format], where you don't have a chance to second-guess yourself."

"We love it, so as long as they have us, we'll keep going back."