112 | 🧑‍🏫 🛎️ Pracademics

In today’s Brainyacts:

1. August 1st launch of new course 👆

2. Call to action to become a Pracadmic (adjunct)

3. A professional update to share

4. Benchmarking and grading various AI models

5. Comprehensive coverage of leading AI model updates

6. News you can use (links to click if the headline grabs you)

7. Meme gift to you

👋 to new subscribers!

To read previous editions, click here.

The Lead Story

🧑‍🏫 🛎️ Become a Pracademic and help change legal education

An Inspiring Call to Pracademics: The “Adjunct” Term Does Not Do the Role and Value Justice.

Imagine your years of experience and the countless pragmatic skills you've honed over time being the guiding force in shaping the next generation of lawyers. This idea, it turns out, isn't merely a daydream; it's a rapidly emerging trend within the sphere of higher education known as "pracademics" – those who combine practical industry experience with academic instruction. These are the roles currently known as adjuncts.

Today, more law schools are quietly and nervously realizing the benefits of having adjuncts as part of their faculty. They have used them for decades and they tend to come cheap. Many adjuncts teach for free. While this is admirable, it does not help incentivize those of you out there that could offer great value but must eat or otherwise make it worth it. No, schools need to pay for quality educational experiences for their customers, the la student.

But this notion confronts the traditional academic status quo, as the traditional conception of a faculty member has been narrowly focused on theoretical knowledge, often overlooking the immense value of practical experience. However, with increasing calls for education that leads directly to job readiness and an ever-changing legal landscape, the presence of pracademics in law schools is an idea whose time has come.

Here’s a thought dear reader, as the evolution of legal services becomes intertwined with technology, your knowledge and experience in text-based generative AI could be a pivotal asset. This emerging field offers ample opportunities for creating engaging, practical courses that equip law students with cutting-edge skills to navigate the rapidly changing landscape of legal services. So why not consider building a course around that?

Remember the prompts we've explored in the past to generate ideas? See editions #12 & #24. Why not use them as the foundation for building a 1-credit hour course? Create clear learning objectives and craft a comprehensive syllabus that draws from your wealth of professional experience. With a robust plan in hand, you could then pitch this to a law school, showcasing the value you bring as a pracademic. If not a course, why not a guest lecture?

By embracing the role of a pracademic, you're also contributing to a broader shift in academia – a shift that values practical application and real-world expertise. It's a trend that students are eager to embrace, as studies have shown, and my own experience confirms, a clear preference for learning from professionals already established in their respective fields. Furthermore, pracademics can help bridge the theory-practice gap often observed in academia, thereby enhancing the relevance and applicability of the courses offered.

It's crucial to acknowledge that while stepping into the role of a pracademic could be an exciting prospect, it does not come without challenges. These roles do not come with the same privileges or comforts as a full-time faculty role. And it is a ton of work to create, prepare, and deliver an effective learning experience. It requires a delicate balance between recounting professional experiences and providing valuable context to prevent the perpetuation of any bad habits or biases. However, these experiences also present opportunities to promote change, inspire students, and guide them toward becoming more ethical, inclusive, and innovative professionals.

While the road to becoming a pracademic might seem daunting, your journey can help reshape the legal education landscape and provide future lawyers with a rich learning experience grounded in reality.

So, take a leap of faith and consider the vast possibilities that your practical expertise could offer to the world of academia. This emerging world of pracademics is the perfect opportunity for you to give back to your profession, shaping the future generation of lawyers who will navigate a rapidly changing world.

This essay was inspired by this recent Washington Post article and my unending desire to bring more pragmatic skills and knowledge to law students.

🪞 📣 Hey folks, I thought I'd share a bit of a personal and professional update with you all. As many of you know, for the past 3 years, I've been a part of the University of Richmond School of Law family. My journey there started right at the onset of the pandemic. Originally, my family and I had planned to move to Richmond, but the pandemic and its prolonged effects put those plans on hold. As time went on, my kids became more rooted in their environments, making the idea of moving more challenging as we started to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Despite all these, I undertook the hefty 100-mile, 15-hour roundtrip commute to make sure I was there to teach and engage with our students. It was a sacrifice I was more than willing to make, but I realized I couldn't ask my family to endure this arrangement indefinitely. So, I've made the decision to step down from my role at the University.

There was much accomplished in my time there and I am grateful to the Dean and faculty for their support and vision to even establish the role I took on. We achieved remarkable recognition on global platforms, thanks to the exceptional efforts of our students, key faculty and administrators, and gracious folks in my network.

The Legal Business Design Hub not only made it to the Top 10 Finalist by Bloomberg Law’s Law School Innovation list (along with Penn and Northwestern) “Meet the Law Schools Leading the Way in Innovation,” but also won the overall category for Learning & Education by Fast Company’s Innovation by Design award, giants such as Yale and Logitech “In this reimagined version of law school, students are taught to have ‘an entrepreneur’s mind.’” These accolades have helped elevate the school to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of few other notable schools that legal industry leaders and organizations take note of as being leaders of the modern legal era.

While my journey with Richmond has reached its conclusion, my mission to revolutionize and advance legal education continues. My goal remains to further strengthen and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit within legal academia and practice. I do this as I always have through my advisory and coaching work. And by my attempt to bring new learning channels like my free email courses and the soon-to-launch online course to fruition.

I am in active talks with a select group of other law schools a bit closer to home so stay tuned!

Spotlight Update

🍎🍊 Which AI Model is the best?

With a plethora of AI models being developed, it can be challenging to find the time to investigate them all. You may also wonder about the performance of each model and how they stack up against others. While there's no straightforward method to gauge the reliability or accuracy of these models due to the subjectivity involved, there exist benchmarking resources which I'll share with you.

This information is valuable to track as it signifies the emergence of new models or updates to existing ones. Do variations among models impact you on a daily basis? Probably not significantly. However, consider why you might prefer Google over Yahoo - the slightly superior results perhaps? Both search engines serve the same purpose, yet the small differences become more critical with increased usage. Similarly, as we increasingly use AI models for reasoning or text generation, minute differences will gain importance.

AlpacaEval serves as a tool to examine and rate the performance of AI language models like GPT-4, Claude, or ChatGPT based on user instructions. This tool utilizes a set of tests, known as the AlpacaFarm evaluation set. AI models undergo these tests, and their responses are contrasted with ideal answers from another AI model, Davinci003. A high correlation between a model's answers and the ideal ones results in a higher score, or "win rate".

A key advantage of AlpacaEval is its alignment with human assessment. This implies that if humans were to rank the AI models, the resulting order would closely resemble AlpacaEval's rankings.

In a nutshell, AlpacaEval provides an efficient, affordable, and reliable method to evaluate AI language models.

Notables

What is the correct definition of open source?

Anthropic CEO testifies to Senate as lawmakers consider AI regulations

G3PO AI is OpenAI’s answer to Microsoft + Meta’s Llama2

AWS skills training on generative AI offerings is available to everyone, with all levels of experience.

Alibaba's cloud computing division said it has become the first Chinese enterprise to support Meta's open-source Llama, allowing its Chinese business users to develop programs of the model. 

Meta seeking to enter India market through AI partners in the country.

News You Can Use:

• Perkins Coie Establishes $300K Tech Law Scholarship at HBCU North Carolina Central University School of Law

• Australia fines Facebook owner Meta $14 million for undisclosed data collection 

• House takes step toward AI regulation; government study on ‘AI accountability’ due in 18 months

• AI-assisted court reporting will need licensed human overseers

• Creating IRAC templates using AI

• 62% of Legal Professionals Are Not Using AI — And Feel The Industry Is Not Ready For The Technology

• AI was mentioned at least 145 times during this week’s Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft earnings calls.

• Researchers Poke Holes in Safety Controls of ChatGPT and Other Chatbots Here is a link to the underlying paper.

• The tricky truth about how generative AI uses your data

• JPMorgan warns that an AI bubble is brewing.