TLDR: Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP has introduced a 12-week training program, ‘Stradley Labs Legal Gen AI Drivers Certification,’ in partnership with vLex. The initiative aims to equip its lawyers and business professionals with the skills to ethically and effectively integrate generative AI tools into their legal work, featuring hands-on practice, hackathons, and gamification.
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP is at the forefront of legal innovation, having launched a comprehensive 12-week training program designed to integrate generative artificial intelligence into the daily practices of its legal and business professionals. Announced on Wednesday, August 7, 2025, the program, dubbed ‘Stradley Labs Legal Gen AI Drivers Certification,’ was developed in collaboration with global legal intelligence provider vLex.
The certification program emphasizes hands-on learning, incorporating ‘hackathons’ and gamification to ensure an engaging and practical educational experience. A core focus of the training is to instill a deep understanding of attorneys’ ethical obligations when utilizing generative AI tools, such as OpenAI Inc.’s ChatGPT and vLex’s Vincent AI, alongside exploring their practical applications in legal work.
Sarah Hirebet, Stradley Ronon’s Director of Knowledge Management, highlighted the firm’s proactive approach to AI adoption, stating, “We wanted to find a way to educate our lawyers and business professionals to embrace these tools both ethically and effectively, but in an engaging, hands-on way so that they feel comfortable enough to use them in their day-to-day practice.” Her vision led to the creation of this program, culminating in lawyers developing and pitching their own AI-powered solutions to real-world legal challenges.
The inaugural gen AI hackathon, a capstone event of the certification program, took place on July 9 in the firm’s Philadelphia office. Approximately 30 lawyers and business professionals participated, tackling three meticulously designed challenges:
1. Client Communication Revolution: Participants were tasked with redesigning and translating complex legal documents to make them more accessible and client-friendly, transforming intricate legal language into clear communications.
2. Privacy-First Contract Review: This challenge focused on leveraging generative AI to accelerate contract review processes while rigorously balancing client privacy concerns and ensuring confidentiality.
3. Demystifying Legal Work: Teams explored how generative AI could be used to explain the ‘invisible work of lawyering,’ such as clause library analysis, making these often opaque tasks transparent and understandable to clients.
Also Read:
- 4As Bolsters Generative AI Offerings to Empower Agencies in Creative, Strategic, and Growth Endeavors
- August, a Legal AI Innovator, Secures $7 Million Seed Funding with Strategic Law School Investment
The hackathon’s evaluation process was rigorous, assessing teams across multiple competency areas including security excellence (presenting information on client data protection), strategic thinking (developing valuable AI use cases), and communication excellence (delivering logical, persuasive presentations with compelling visuals and narratives). This initiative underscores Stradley Ronon’s commitment to equipping its professionals with the necessary skills to navigate the evolving landscape of legal technology effectively and ethically.
