Program for the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession 2026 Annual Summit - Truth, Trust & Technology: Implications of AI for Law
Truth, Trust & Technology: Implications of AI for Law 2026 Summit One-Day summit program
Date & time:
Wednesday 4 March - 9:00am - 5pm
Venue:
The Mint, Level 1/10 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
CPD Points:
Up to 10 points. Claim 6 from live sessions and top-up with complimentary online modules from EDGE’s online library.
WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2026
Time
PRESENTERS
SESSION OVERVIEW
8:30 – 8:45am 8:45 – 9:00am
Arrival tea/coffee and registration
Professor Michael Legg, Director of the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession The Honourable Judith Gibson, former Judge of the New South Wales District Court
Welcome and Acknowledgement
9:00 – 9:30am Keynote Address
Opening Keynote ‘Monsters from the Id’
Knowledge Area: Professional Skills
9:30 – 10:30am Panel & Q&A
Panellists include:
Session One: GenAI in Litigation- the State of Play
Professor Michael Legg, Director of the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession
Generative AI is rapidly reshaping litigation practice. When used
responsibly, it can improve legal services and access to justice. However, misuse is creating recurring problems, including false citations, unverified reasoning, defective filings, and excessive AI generated material that burdens courts and parties. This session explores emerging judicial responses such as closer scrutiny, case management directions, costs orders and sanctions. It also outlines practical safeguards for lawyers and litigants using AI tools, and considers the broader implications for legal work, professional skills, and the future of the profession.
Dr Felicity Bell, Deputy Director of the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession
Vicki McNamara, Senior Research Associate of the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession
Knowledge Area: Ethics & Professional Responsibility
10:30 – 11:00am
MORNING TEA BREAK
11:00 – 11:45am Panel
Chair of the Panel:
Session Two: AI and learning to be a lawyer: Data and debate: the student perspective
Professor Alex Steel, School of Law, Society & Criminology, UNSW
Recent research indicates mixed opinions among law students when it comes to using generative AI, mirroring the blends of uncertainty, caution and excitement in the profession itself. This session unpacks the views of UNSW law students about GenAI’s uses, ethical issues, and the future they see for themselves and other new entrants to the profession.
Panellists Include:
Neeraja Seshadri, Student, UNSW
Yue Hun Chia , Student, UNSW
Ruchira Abeyratna, JD Student, UNSW
Knowledge Area: Professional Skills
Noel Lim , CEO & Co-founder of Anika Legal and 2025 Victorian of the Year
11:45 – 12:30pm Speaker
Session Three: Scaling and Sustaining A2J with technology
Access to justice is a pressing issue in Australia and overseas, with legal assistance sector organisations facing ever-growing demand and stagnant funding. While there is a huge interest in how technology can generate efficiencies in the sector, it can be hard to know where to start. This session looks at the barriers and enablers to scaling and sustaining A2J through technology.
Knowledge Area: Practice Management and Business Skills
12:30 – 1:30pm
LUNCH BREAK
1:30 – 2:15pm Speakers
Jen Bradley, Special Counsel at Gilbert + Tobin
Session Four: The Law Firm Cyber Security Defence Playbook: Preventing and Responding to the Modern Threat This session looks at key trends in the cyber risk environment affecting high value targets – law firms and legal organisations. It explains how AI complicates this landscape, but also how it can be both a weapon and a means of defence. It then turns to consider how law firms and other legal organisations can optimally react, putting strategies in place for a fast and effective response. Knowledge Area: Practice Management and Business Skills Session Five: AI, Legal Ethics & the Digital Frontier AI is transforming legal practice – raising questions of professional responsibility, human judgment, and the public’s trust in the justice system. With AI adoption by the legal profession accelerating, these challenges are likely to grow. In this session, acting CEO of the Legal Services Council Stephen Bray will examine how professional conduct principles apply to the use of AI by legal practitioners, and how practitioners can navigate these challenges.
Melissa Fai , Partner at Gilbert + Tobin
2:15 – 3:00pm Speaker
Stephen Bray, Commissioner for Uniform Legal Services Regulation at the Legal Services Council
Knowledge Area: Ethics & Professional Responsibility
3:00 – 3:30pm
AFTERNOON TEA
3:30 – 5:00pm Provocation, Panel & Q&A
Panellists include:
Session Six: AI and Business Ramifications for the Legal Sector
Professor George Shinkle , School of Management and Governance, Australian Graduate School of Management, UNSW Business School
Legal organisations are often accused of being short on strategy – maximising profits in the short term but failing to adapt their thinking to effectively plan for the mid- to long term. In this session, strategy expert Professor George Shinkle delivers the challenge to senior legal leaders: how are you responding to GenAI? What is your strategy? And how does it stand up to
Ben Langford, General Counsel - CustomerX, Technology & Primary Connect, Woolworths Group
Zeina Milicevic , Partner at MinterEllison
Emma Covacevich, Chief Executive Partner at Clayton UTZ
scrutiny? The session will cover economics, investment, billing, recruitment and training.
Chair of the Panel: Professor Michael Legg, Director of the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession
Knowledge Area: Practice Management and Business Skills
**Program subject to change
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