CLA News / CLA President Steven Thiru’s speech at the Bar Leaders’ Roundtable at the Opening of the Legal Year in Malaysia
Shaping the Future Lawyer: Training, Pupillage, and Practice in an AI Age
by Steven Thiru, President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association[i]
The legal profession is undergoing a period of significant transformation as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated in professional practice. These developments have prompted renewed scrutiny of how lawyers are trained, how legal tasks are executed, and which professional skills must be preserved in an evolving technological landscape. While AI presents new opportunities to enhance efficiency, access, and learning, it simultaneously raises critical questions about the continuing relevance of foundational legal competencies and professional values.
As Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon observed, contemporary pressures may have altered the conditions of legal practice, but not its essential character as a discipline grounded in judgment, responsibility, and service.[ii] Against this backdrop, it is imperative to examine how the profession can respond to these challenges by reaffirming core legal skills, reimagining training and pupillage, and integrating AI in ways that complement rather than compromise human judgment and professional integrity.
View the full paper here
Footnotes:
[i] With the assistance of Allysha Anne Ronald, Loh Chee Ming and Ng Wan En, pupils in the chambers of Steven Thiru.
[ii] Sundaresh Menon, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore, ‘The Future of the Legal Profession: A Shared Vision’ (Speech at the Legal Profession Symposium 2025, Singapore, 29 July 2025) <https://journalsonline.academypublishing.org.sg/e-First/Singapore-Academy-of-Law-Journal/ctl/eFirstPDFPage/mid/568/ArticleId/2566?Citation=Published+on+e-First+3+September+2025> accessed 4 February 2026.
