AI Revolution in New Zealand's Legal Profession: Exploring Junior Lawyers' Experiences and Cultural Implications

• Pages: 33–60
• Date: 01 January 2025
• Published date: 01 January 2025
• Author: Finnegan Ferguson-Lees,Erik Brogt,Katharina Näswall
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

33

AI REVOLUTION IN NEW ZEALAND’S

LEGAL PROFESSION: EXPLORING

JUNIOR LAWYERS’ EXPERIENCES AND

CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS





Abstract

is study in vestigates the impact of articial intelligence (AI), particularly large

language models (LLMs), on junior lawyers in New Zealand’s legal profession. While existing

research focuses on A I’s technical capabiliti es, the lived experiences of lega l professionals

remain underexplored. To address this gap, 10 semi-struct ured interviews were conducted

with a diverse purp osive sample of junior lawyers across New Zealand. Using thematic

analysis, tw o major themes were identied: Transforming L egal Practice and C hallenges

and Opportunities for Junior Lawyers, underpinned by the overarching theme of Te

Tiriti o Waitangi, which is inte rwoven throughout all ndings. e study highlights the

psychologic al and practical eects of AI on junior lawyers, the misalignme nt between legal

education and A I-integrated practice, an d the intersection of AI, la w and Māori customs

– part icularly te ao Māori an d tikanga. While AI enhances ec iency and shifts junior

lawyers’ roles toward more analytical and interpersonal tasks, it also rais es concer ns

around job secur ity, ethical challenges, and algorithmic bias – espe cially aecting Māori

clients. e ndings underscore the need for legal educ ation reform, cultura lly informed

ethical frameworks and ta rgeted AI training. is research prov ides valua ble insigh ts

for la w rms, educators and polic ymakers, co ntributing to the development of a more

resilient and c ulturally respo nsive legal workforce in the face of technolog ical chang e.

* Finneg an Ferguson-Lee s (L LB) is a Ma ster of Science student in the Scho ol of Psyc hology,

Speech and He arin g at the Univers ity of Cant erbury ; Erik Bro gt is an adj unct assoc iate professo r

in the industr ial and organ isational psyc hology progra mme, and an educationa l, sta and

organisational development consultant at E3 Consulting; and Katharina Näswall is a Professor

of Psycholog y in the School of Ps ychology, Speech a nd Hearing at t he Universit y of Canterbur y.

34 [Vol 32, 2025]

I. Introduction

AI is rapid ly emergin g as a tool th at opens exciti ng new

opportun ities for the provi sion of and access to lega l services.

However, there are al so risks a nd ethical issues th at need to

be carefu lly managed for la wyers.1

Since the rel ease of ChatGPT i n late 2022, ar ticial int elligence (AI ) has become

central t o discuss ions across med ia, workplace s and academi a. AI ca n no longer

be considered a fu ture phenomenon; i t is actively sh aping nea rly all dom ains.2

Organ isations across indus tries are integ rating AI te chnologies into thei r business

struct ures th rough cha nge ini tiatives t o remain c ompetitive , with exp erts

predicti ng that 5 7 per cent of jobs in OECD countries cou ld be replaced by AI.3 AI’s

trans formative inuence on work has led many to refer to it as the Fourth Indus trial

Revolution. 4

Althoug h AI has existed for nearly a century, no single widely accepted denition

exists. For this article, AI is dened as any technique that approximates aspects of

human cognition using machines.5 The most prom inent form of AI t oday is la rge

la ngu age mod els (L LMs) , syst ems t hat in terp ret hu man l ang uage and gen erat e text -

based output s, such as docu ment summa risation or t ransla tion.6 Chat GPT is one

such example. D ue to the text-heav y nature of lega l work, LLMs are h ighly suit ed to

many jun ior lawyer ta sks, includ ing ca se summa risation a nd document drafti ng.7

While a ll LLMs are a for m of AI, not all A I tools are LL Ms. In this a rticle, AI a nd LLMs

are used in terchan geably, as the di stinct ion, though relevant, i s not central t o the

study’s nd ings.

The eect iveness of LLMs in legal tasks has contr ibuted to their rapid uptake

among law yers. However, underst andin g on LLMs ri sk remain s limit ed, in

partic ular, how LL Ms are tr ained on vas t amounts of i nternet da ta, which c an

1 New Zeala nd Law Societ y Guidance on the use of Generativ e AI for la wyers (New Zeala nd Law

Society, Ma rch 2024) at 1.

2 Leil i Babasha hi and other s “AI in the Workplac e: A Systemat ic Review of Sk ill Tra nsformat ion in

the Indus try” (2024) 1 4 Adminis trative Scienc es 127 at 127–130.

3 David Brougha m and Jarrod Haar “Technolog ical disruption and employment: The in uence

on job i nsecurit y a nd t urnover intent ions: A mul ti-countr y s tudy” (2020) 161 Te chnologica l

Forecast ing and Soci al Change 161 a t 161.

4 At 130.

5 Ivey Matthew “The eth ical m ideld in arti cial in telligence: Practi cal reec tions for national

securit y lawyers” (202 0) 33 Geo J Legal E thics 109 at 11 4.

6 Rajvard han Patil a nd Venkat Gudivad a “A review of current t rends, techn iques, and cha llenges

in large l anguage m odels” (2024) 14 App lied Sciences 1 at 4 .

7 Ada m Bent “Larg e Lan guage Models: AI’s L egal Revolution” (2023) 44 Pac e Law Review 91 at

118–125 .