DELTA INSTITUTE FOR AI AND THE LAW LAUNCHES AT MEMPHIS LAW
The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law is proud to announce the formation and launch of the Delta Institute for AI and the Law (DIAL), which will focus on fostering AI literacy and accessibility in the interest of justice.
DIAL will utilize research, policy guidance, and practical education to develop effective and fair AI-powered solutions for courts, legal professionals, and everyday litigants and ensure that young attorneys enter practice prepared to use the power of AI for good. With AI advancing incredibly rapidly, combined with the legal system’s much slower standard pace, the country’s legal infrastructure is being challenged to adapt and harness the power of new technology while maintaining a transparent and ethical judicial system. DIAL will focus on the applied legal research that will have a high societal impact, which benefits public regulatory environments and the judicial system itself.
“The Institute is different than most legal entities that focus on AI and the law in part, because of its community focus,” said Debra Ireland, Interim Director for DIAL. “DIAL’s commitment to integrating AI into legal practice goes beyond ensuring law students are simply proficient and extends to lawyers already in practice who may not have the resources to become adept on their own while balancing their current caseloads.”
Before leading DIAL, Ireland worked at the United States Department of Justice as a trial attorney in Washington, D.C. in the Criminal Division, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. While there, she led case teams throughout the country to investigate and prosecute cybercrime. She worked with international prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to investigate cybercrime, intellectual property crimes, and the laundering of criminal proceeds through cryptocurrency assets. Prior to her time at the DOJ, Ireland was a longtime Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Memphis Division, where served as the coordinator for Project Safe Childhood, prosecuting child exploitation and sex trafficking cases, and also prosecuted cybercrime and cyber-facilitated fraud schemes.
The launch of the Institute comes at a pivotal time in legal education, as well as in the legal industry at large, as it pertains to artificial intelligence.
“With courts, government agencies, law firms, corporations, and policymakers increasingly requiring practical guidance and applied research addressing new AI applications in the legal field, DIAL and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law are uniquely positioned to become a nationally recognized hub for research and innovation,” said Memphis Law Dean Jim Strickland.
The Institute is already hard at work developing several projects, including an AI lab where law students fluent in AI can show practicing attorneys how to make the best use of available AI tools to better serve their clients; and launching an AI and Internet Law Legal Certificate Program.
For more information about DIAL at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, please visit https://www.memphis.edu/law/dial/.