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ILETA Winter School Speaker: Mike Waters

On 5 February 2026 by

Abstract

The rapid adoption of AI tools in legal education presents Legal English trainers with a paradox: while AI offers unprecedented efficiency, accessibility, and pedagogical support, it also risks encouraging superficial understanding, eroding linguistic precision, and fostering the illusion that professional competence can be automated.

This presentation argues that the real challenge is not whether to use AI, but how to integrate it responsibly without undermining legal judgment, system awareness, and risk sensitivity. Drawing on practical classroom experience and a lawyer’s perspective, the session examines three key downsides of AI in Legal English training—shallow legal understanding, diminished attention to legal consequences, and clients’ growing perception of AI as a substitute for human learning—while demonstrating how these risks can be actively countered.

Ultimately, the presentation reframes AI not as a threat to Legal English trainers, but as an opportunity to reposition their role: from language correctors to trainers of judgment, critical evaluation, and AI-augmented professional competence.

Combatting the Downsides of AI …

Key points include:

  • How trainers can reposition Legal English as AI-augmented legal judgment, not mere language training
  • Why fluent AI output can conceal doctrinal errors and blur common law–civil law distinctions
  • How AI’s stylistic strengths can weaken precision and risk awareness in legal language
  • Why AI answers questions but does not build professional competence or accountability

BIOGRAPHY

Mike Waters is the founder and managing director of SkillsBar, a business and professional language services provider based in Bucharest, Romania. Originally from Ireland, where he qualified as a solicitor, Mike has worked as a lecturer and corporate trainer around the world, including The Gulf Region, Africa, and Europe. His main areas of interest include Legal English, Business Communication, Business Writing and, lately, AI and its impacts on learning.

For a full list of Speakers, Abstracts and Biographies click here https://ileta.org/speakers-abstracts-ileta-online-winter-school-2026/

A great opportunity to connect with colleagues across disciplines and rethink how we work with legal language in 2026 and beyond.

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