New two-summer program will give select law students hands-on experience developing AI-enabled legal solutions before returning to Weil as traditional summer associates

International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP today announced a new program that will give a select group of first-year law students the opportunity to spend their 1L summer working on the development and use of artificial intelligence in legal practice with Weil’s Lawyer Augmented Solutions Engineering and Research (LASER) team.

The inaugural class of participants will join Weil in summer 2027 and work with the Firm’s multidisciplinary AI and Innovation team. They will also receive offers to return the following year as members of Weil’s 2028 2L Summer Associate Program, giving them early exposure to the development of legal technologies followed by experience applying them in legal practice.

“Technology has always changed the way lawyers practice, and AI will be no different,” said Ramona Nee, Weil’s incoming Executive Partner. “What matters is how we use it. We want our lawyers to have the judgment, creativity and technical fluency to take advantage of new capabilities. This program is another way for Weil to invest early in exceptional people and help them become exceptional lawyers.”

During their first summer, participants will be embedded within LASER, Weil’s cross-functional team of lawyers, consultants and software engineers focused on developing and supporting AI-enabled legal capabilities. Over the course of the 10-week program, they will work on active legal projects, learn Python from the ground up, build a neural network and explore the technologies underlying the large language models increasingly used in legal practice. Working under the guidance of a dedicated LASER Architect mentor, participants will help develop legal software applications and contribute to academic research on artificial intelligence and the law. Participants will also take part in select elements of Weil’s broader summer programming.

“The lawyers beginning their careers now are going to practice through a period of enormous change in our profession,” said Jonathon Soler, Co-Managing Partner of Weil. “There is real value in giving talented law students an opportunity to engage with that change from the outset – not as spectators, but as participants. They will learn from our lawyers and technology professionals, and I expect we will learn a great deal from them as well.”

The program builds on Weil’s broader investment in artificial intelligence and legal innovation. LASER works with lawyers across the Firm to develop proprietary applications and workflows and evaluate leading external technologies. In August, Weil announced a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud through which the Firm is helping shape Gemini Enterprise for Legal based on the needs of sophisticated legal practice. Weil has also developed proprietary technology through LASER, including BenchMark, a litigation intelligence platform that analyzes publicly available judicial materials to identify insights relevant to litigation strategy.

The program extends LASER’s approach of bringing people with different backgrounds together to solve legal problems and experiment with new ways of working.

“One of the things we’ve learned is that the best ideas don't necessarily start with the technology,” said Andrew Simon, Weil’s Chief AI & Innovation Officer. “They often start with asking why a piece of legal work is done a certain way and whether there is a better way to do it. We want these students to be part of the team, doing meaningful work and bringing a fresh perspective. The goal isn't to turn them into software engineers, but to help them become lawyers who understand AI well enough to ask better questions, recognize opportunities and work effectively with people who bring different expertise to a problem.”

Weil began accepting applications for the inaugural class on October 15, 2026 – the same date on which the Firm began accepting applications for the 2028 2L Summer Associate Program. The 1L summer AI program is open to first-year students currently enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school with an expected graduation date of Spring 2029. Candidates will be considered based on academic achievement, professional and leadership experience, intellectual curiosity and interest in law, technology and innovation. No prior coding, mathematics, data science or computer science experience is required.

The inaugural participants will be based in New York and will receive compensation consistent with Weil’s Summer Associate Program. Additional information is available here.

About Weil

Founded in 1931, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP has been a preeminent provider of legal services for more than 90 years. With approximately 1,200 lawyers in offices on three continents, Weil has been a pioneer in the marketplace and a first-mover in the establishment of many significant practice areas. The Firm’s four departments, Corporate, Litigation, Restructuring, and Tax, Executive Compensation & Benefits, and more than two dozen practice groups are consistently recognized as leaders in their respective fields.