Mysticism Is No Safe Harbor from Tech - Having Down the Software Has Become the Price of Entry

 “Developing that technical competence [for AI] has become increasingly important in the legal profession.” - Jeffrey Chivers, who teaches AI at Yale Law School, states this in Bloomberg Law, August 25, 2023

The Chivers' quote is posted in the legal publication's article on how training at a growing number of law firms will now have to include the fundamentals of generative AI. Those range from how to create the most useful prompt for legal research to reviewing for accuracy to ensuring confidentiality. 

That, of course, is a very different kind of professional development than was the usual in boomer times. 

Some may recall the chair of Paul Weiss Brad Karp's description in The Wall Street Journal of learning both the practice of law and the business of law (client relations) by sitting right next to partners. Between pauses in phone calls, the partners explained to the newbie associate the strategies underlying what they were doing. That was then. Karp is now 60-something. The odds are that he will be continually overseeing unique types of technical development at Paul Weiss for both lawyers and staff. 

However, the data-driven field of law is not atypical in mandating advanced technical skills to even survive, not just position yourself to get ahead.

Recently I had been recruited for a major brandname in Tarot readings. I was over the moon. Then I wasn't. To proceed during the application process I had to learn three software programs. That was expected. A boomer, for me that was analogous to someone in Poland learning English as a second language: Complex and difficult. 

Once hired, the first day on that contract job was brutal. I made plenty of mistakes functioning on the corporation's platform. Of course, though, I didn't balk. You don't do that in 2023. Ease with technology is the price of entry. Can't adapt? You may never work again. Today, I am on the other side of those tech challenges. I have to anticipate, though, that the technology will change. 

So, no, even the mysticism of the Tarot is not a safe harbor from technology creep. Actually more and more jobs and contract gigs require from the get-go that applicants already have down cold advanced knowledge of several software programs. 

One woman I had done a Tarot reading is working at a relatively low-paid job in customer service involving switching on and off among four programs. To land the full-time job, she told me, she had to demonstrate not only knowledge of the systems but also speed. She accepted all that as a what-is. She is in her late 20s.

Incidentally a Generation X lawyer continually found herself blocked from even temporary opportunities. She hadn't kept up with the software. When I coached her I gave her the harsh news: "They" expect her to have mastered all that before even applying. For a few years now she is bartending. That job might remain one of the few refuges for the tech-phobic. Or maybe just for now.

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