The focus on skills development includes advanced AI training for the firm's associates, which may eventually become a requirement.
McDermott's previous AI training was simple, according to Hunter Jackson, McDermott's chief knowledge officer. Attorneys and staff members watched training videos that offered basic insights on using ChatGPT. Now the firm is shifting its focus, expanding the scope of training while making it more targeted based on practice area.
"If you had a ChatGPT license, you got training on it," Jackson said. "What I'm saying is, we're going to do 12 times that amount of training."
Jackson envisions a more comprehensive training program for the firm's 1,700 lawyers, including an academy lasting nine to 12 weeks with a certification upon completion. While the planning for the new training program is still in its early stages, Jackson said he would like to make participation mandatory for associates.
The curriculum for the new program will likely include training on prompt engineering and best practices for McDermott's slate of AI tools, and training geared for specific practice areas. Jackson said the last leg of the program would include a contest in which lawyers would present ideas for a custom AI solution for their practice group.
Since the idea behind the program is still new, Jackson doesn't expect it to begin until March or April. Full training across the firm could take all year.
Jackson said full implementation of the new AI strategy was likely delayed because of the merger of Schulte Roth & Zabel and McDermott Will & Emery. Partners voted to approve the merger in June.
Schulte had different technology from McDermott, with an older version of ChatGPT. Ongoing integration issues with that tech stack persist, which the firm hopes to resolve by early 2026, Jackson said.
McDermott's pivot to a new AI strategy follows the firm's chairman, Ira Coleman, telling Law360 Pulse in November that McDermott is considering selling a stake to private equity and is fielding interest from investors. Jackson said the firm's AI ambitions have nothing to do with media reports on private equity investments.
McDermott has a lengthy history of using generative AI.
After first licensing Microsoft Copilot by 2023, the firm changed course the following year by licensing ChatGPT and CoCounsel, the legal AI assistant from Thomson Reuters. The firm spent the next year using ChatGPT to create custom internal solutions, such as tools that can summarize depositions.
By 2025, Jackson said, the firm realized that its custom tools can only go so far without expanding the skill set of its associates.
"It's not enough to just build custom solutions," Jackson said. "Being so focused on a custom GPT strategy … was never going to get us all the way."
It's a sentiment that was echoed throughout the firm. Josh Simon, McDermott's new global leader for its litigation practice group, told Law360 Pulse in April that using AI to improve the efficiency and quality of the practice's work was a major focus.
Since last year, McDermott has run events known as prompt-a-thons, where summer associates learn prompt engineering to improve their use of generative AI. Several law firms have hosted similar events.
McDermott wrapped up a multicity prompt-a-thon in November, a roadshow that expanded this training to include hundreds of associates and partners. It included a recent associates' retreat in Miami, where lawyers learned practice-area-specific prompting tips and presented ideas for custom AI tools. The same training occurred at offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, but the California roadshow included participation from partners.
Some of the associates offered fresh ideas for new AI solutions. For example, one associate in California presented an idea for a custom AI assistant for specific private client issues in the state.
Jackson said the roadshow inspired him to pivot the firm's AI strategy for 2026 to include more extensive training, which the firm's leadership hopes will yield more original ideas for AI tools that help attorneys.
McDermott is still determining how it will measure the success of its new AI ambitions. One hope is to ensure that the firm develops AI solutions to improve services for clients, Jackson said.
--Additional reporting by Kevin Penton, Emily Sawicki, Alison Knezevich and Sarah Martinson. Editing by Robert Rudinger.
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