Bass, Berry & Sims Debuts Summer AI Lab
Bass, Berry & Sims completed its inaugural Summer AI Lab program on 21 July, culminating with teams of summer associates pitching AI prototypes aimed at resolving workflow frictions. Building on the firm's existing artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, the program expanded its portfolio of documented, lawyer-validated AI models designed to address everyday legal and business challenges. The Summer AI Lab reflects the firm's ongoing commitment to innovation, client service, professional development, and the responsible adoption of AI technologies.
The program consisted of 43 summer associates broken into nine teams, each consisting of three to six participants grouped by practice area. Each team was also assigned a group of lawyers and professionals from the firm who served in mentor capacities.
The winning team focused on creating an AI agent to capture and standardise reusable prompts and precedents for recurring deal workflows. The newly created AI agent searches pre-populated vaults efficiently to find reliable precedent documents during a deal transaction. The agent memorialised and adapted an existing process to make it more efficient, reducing lawyers' learning curve and adaptation time.
"We are proud that this first Summer AI Lab was a success," said Devin Lintzenich, the firm's chief talent officer. "It was gratifying to watch our lawyers fully embrace this initiative and provide useful insight to our summer associates. This program demonstrated how junior associates can help lead as the profession rethinks the delivery of legal services."
Driving Innovation Through Collaboration
Created and led by Lintzenich in collaboration with Cat Moon, professor of the practice and founding co-director of Vanderbilt Law School's AI in Law Lab, the program leveraged the practical knowledge of experienced lawyers to identify points of friction through interviews with summer associates. Lawyers and professionals across experience levels, practice groups, and departments participated as AI Lab Leaders, serving as consultants to each team.
After interviewing Bass, Berry & Sims lawyers, the summer associate teams were tasked with identifying problems where AI could improve the client experience and internal workflows, and then developing prototypes to resolve those problems. The teams pitched their solutions during a firm-wide presentation in a Shark Tank-style format.
"It is unique for a mid-market firm to make this investment and approach AI innovation and education in this way," said Rachel Shields Williams, director of AI and Knowledge Management at Bass, Berry & Sims. "Devin approached this program through the lens of education and professional development, not through the IT or HR training scope many firms take. The result was several impressive AI solutions, buy-in from senior-level lawyers, and the advancement of core competencies for these emerging lawyers. This structure, and the support of such a prestigious partner, Cat Moon of Vanderbilt Law School, will help us continue our goal of leading in AI rather than following."
A Human-Centred Approach to AI Education
Bass, Berry & Sims' Summer AI Lab was developed around human-centred design, which is premised on understanding a problem in human terms before developing a solution. Collaboration with Moon helped ensure the method was rigorous, and the projects were workable. The firm expects the Summer AI Lab to serve as a model for future summer programming and as a replicable framework for other business functions across the organisation.
"Human-centred design is a powerful framework for legal education because it starts with people and their real problems to create better outcomes," said Moon of Vanderbilt Law School. "This partnership gives students and future lawyers a chance to explore how AI can support the practice of law while keeping the human needs of clients and lawyers at the centre. We were grateful to be part of it this summer and look forward to seeing how the firm continues to move the profession forward in this area."
Pitch Day Showcases Practical AI Solutions
The summer associates presented their final solutions on 21 July in Nashville during an in-person and virtual pitch day featuring seven-minute team presentations. To choose a winner, the firm asked everyone to vote on the project that demonstrated meaningful potential to create value, drive impact, and inspire new possibilities.
Themes that emerged through the process and were highlighted in the presentations included using AI to create efficiencies and client value, standardising documents and processes, and using AI as a starting point to generate content.
Preparing the Next Generation of AI-Enabled Lawyers
"AI is changing how legal work gets done," said Lintzenich. "We created this program to ensure our next generation of lawyers is learning how to think critically, exercise judgment, and serve clients well in an AI-integrated environment. More than that, we empowered our summer associates to develop AI expertise and become catalysts for firm-wide adoption."
About Bass, Berry & Sims PLC
Bass, Berry & Sims is an independent, nationally recognised US law firm dedicated to helping clients navigate complex legal challenges with confidence.