Weil, Gotshal to Launch 2027 AI Program for Law Students
The 10-week summer curriculum will train law students to build neural networks and develop proprietary AI legal tools.
Updated on Oct. 27, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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Law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges is launching an artificial intelligence curriculum for 2027 1L summer associates. The announced program is designed to integrate legal training with technical development in Python and neural networks.
Why it matters
The program reflects a growing trend of law firms embedding technical skill sets into traditional legal internships to create internal AI development capacity. By teaching students to build tools, the firm aims to bridge the gap between legal practice and machine learning engineering.
The curriculum centers on Python programming and the PyTorch machine learning framework. Participants will gain experience in building neural networks, moving beyond standard legal workflows to hands-on software development.
The players
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
An international law firm expanding its internal engineering capabilities by integrating software development into traditional legal training.
The details
The program pairs 1L law students with the firm's Lawyer Augmented Solutions Engineering and Research team. Participants will learn Python, a high-level programming language used for data analysis, and PyTorch — an open-source machine learning library used for developing neural networks, which are computing systems modeled on the human brain. This technical foundation allows students to move from using AI to actively building specialized tools for legal use cases.
Timeline
The summer program is scheduled to take place in 2027.
The Tech Race
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is positioning itself among top-tier firms investing directly in proprietary AI development rather than relying solely on third-party tools. This effort follows a broader industry shift where legal institutions act as laboratories for specialized machine learning research.
Prospective 1L law students can now apply for the program as part of the recruitment cycle leading into the 2027 summer term. Participants who complete the course will have access to return offers for the following year's 2L program.
The takeaway
The program represents a significant move toward institutionalizing software engineering within legal education. Interested candidates should monitor the firm's careers portal for 2027 recruitment timelines.
Further reading
Explore the broader trajectory of machine learning integration at Artificial Intelligence.
Source note: This article includes information reported by ABA Journal - Law News Now.
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