Login | December 11, 2025
Two Big Law firms unveil AI-specific training for first-year associates
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: December 12, 2025
As more legal professionals utilize artificial intelligence tools in their practices, two Big Law firms are taking the lead in providing formal AI training to their new associates.
As attorney Stephen Embry discusses in a Nov. 17 post on Above the Law (https://abovethelaw.com/2025/11/the-grace-to-dabble-two-biglaw-firms-look-to-an-ai-first-future/), the initiatives unveiled by Ropes & Gray and Latham & Watkins take a long-sighted approach, foregoing short-term billable hour revenue to ensure attorneys are prepared to ethically and effectively use these tools in the future.
In the case of Am Law 50 firm Ropes & Gray, which has over 1,500 attorneys and 16 offices worldwide, Embry says all first-year associates can now dedicate up to 400 hours of their yearly 1,900-hour billable hour requirement to AI training and experimentation.
They will use more than 15 firm-approved AI tools, says Embry, who publishes the blog TechLaw Crossroads.
Associates will work in mentoring circles and discuss how they’ve employed AI, including their successes and any new opportunities they have discovered. They will also receive hands-on training.
The post quotes Chief of Attorney Talent Amy Ross and Partner Jane Rogers, co-head of the finance practice, who say “associates are expected to co-create solutions, act as thought partners, and help establish repeatable, defensible approaches for applying AI in practice.”
Embry says in addition to investing in its future, the training could also help the firm retain the associates by “encouraging their long-term and short-term loyalty.
“Retaining associates these days is an arms race,” says Embry, stressing it’s important for firms to keep their associates “happy.”
The initiative at Latham & Watkins began last year when the firm sent all 400 of its first-year associates to Washington, D.C., where they attended a mandatory two-day AI Academy.
He says the program, which was repeated this year, focused on the use of Harvey and Microsoft Copilot and included outside speakers.
The firm, which has more than 3,500 attorneys and over 25 offices around the globe, also holds multiple events and training programs throughout the year aimed at different groups.
Embry says both approaches position the firms for “greater success” in the future, adding the two “seem to get it: AI is going to fundamentally change the practice of law.”