Exploring Legal Tech and AI in Switzerland: AI MEETS LAW Excursion to Zurich 2024

Over the course of two days, from Oct. 31st to Nov. 1st, a group of law students from our University had the opportunity to broaden their understanding of legal tech, legal AI and regulation of AI in the beautiful city of Zurich.

The brief train ride along the scenic “Rheinfall” in Schaffenhausen was contrary to the current state of the German rail network a pleasure. First stop in Zurich was LAUX LAWYERS, a law firm specializing in IT law. Parallel to their legal knowledge they bring profound technical knowledge, which makes them rather unique as a law firm. Based on this, the workshop started with a detailed technical introduction on how neural networks work, especially Gen AI, which was followed by the presentation other concepts such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). From a regulatory point of view, LAUX LAWYERS outlined Swiss data protection law, copyright law, professional secrecy and the potentially upcoming AI law. Finally, LAUX LAWYERS presented two use cases for legal tech, also showing how to tackle such a project and the pitfalls while doing so.

The next day continued with a legal tech focus, as the start-up Legartis invited AI MEETS LAW into their offices to give a product demo. After a brief introduction on how the company was founded and a discussion on how their product and its marketing has changed due to the sudden rise of large language models, they showed their Microsoft Word add-on for reviewing contracts as well as their cloud product detached from Microsoft Word.

This event was followed by a lunch with law students participating in the Swiss Legal Tech Association. The exchange was very insightful, not only because of the common interest in the intersection of AI and law, but also because the comparison drawn between student life as well as structure and content of the law curricula.

Final stop was Walder Wyss, a big Swiss law firm. There, AI MEETS LAW presented the scope as well as important concepts of the newly adopted EU AI Act in an open format, such that the norms of the act could be discussed. Although the AI Act is not as relevant in Switzerland as it is the EU, Walder Wyss keeps a close eye on the regulation and its interpretation and reception in the EU, as the upcoming thoughts on AI regulation by the Bundesrat in Switzerland may mirror certain concepts of the AI Act. Besides regulation of AI, Walder Wyss presented their legal tech tools used in M&A transactions paired with an assessment and discussion on the use of large language models in the everyday work as a lawyer.

Before heading back to Tübingen, the students enjoyed the sunset at lake Zurich and reflected on the past two days. The excursion was a valuable experience, where the students were able to gain insights into the technical functioning of AI itself and the practical use in the field of law, but also its regulation. Each workshop was held on an understandable level and brought aspects from different points of view, as they were presented from start-ups, boutique law firms and big law.