As technology and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to advance and transform occupations and industries, many attorneys and law students fear the risk of AI taking over legal work and threatening jobs in the profession. However, veteran technology law expert Janine Anthony Bowen (J.D. ’98) takes a different approach.
As a leading partner of the Privacy Governance and Technology Transactions team as well as the Digital Transformation and Data Economy team at Baker & Hostetler LLP, her experience tells her there will be ways that attorneys can use AI to supplement but not subsume their jobs.
At the start of her legal career, technology law focused almost entirely on intellectual property, and the field grew steadily as the need for privacy law became more prevalent in technology industries. Over time, technology law, intellectual property law and privacy law have become three separate and distinct practices. “It just so happens that I’m kind of all three,” Bowen said.
Bowen’s path to becoming a successful attorney and leader hasn’t been a straight shot. At the age of eight, Bowen knew she wanted to be an attorney, but in high school, her aptitude in mathematics led her to pursue a career as an engineer. She was also heavily inspired by a family member who worked as a nuclear engineer on projects for building both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Ultimately, with both a bachelor's and master's degree in industrial engineering from Clemson University, Bowen moved to New York to begin her career as a technology consultant with Accenture. A few years later, she followed her original passion and came back home to Atlanta.
"Before I wanted to be an engineer, I wanted to be a lawyer, so it really was a move back to where I started from," she explained.
When it came to choosing a law school, Bowen had a few options in the area, but one stood out as her perfect fit. "There was only one school that met my criteria. It was Georgia State University College of Law. It was fully accredited, evening program, part-time. It was going to be Georgia State or not at all.”
Bowen says Georgia State Law prepared her well for a career in what is arguably one of the most innovative practices in the legal field, and in 1998, she graduated law school into the rising tide of the technology-driven dot-com boom.
The bubble burst shortly after she graduated and numerous technology companies faced accelerated declines, good preparation in basic lawyering skills helped Bowen remain successful in the field.
"At Georgia State, the preparation was very pragmatic, so I never entered into an environment where I felt unprepared. I never felt that my background and my preparation were inadequate. What I learned then definitely serves me well now."
Though her technical background has been a helpful touchstone in her career, Bowen doesn’t see an intrinsic need for an engineering education in the practice of technology law. Although helpful, she considers that background peripheral to the fundamentals of good lawyering.
"What you do need is this willingness to learn a lot of things you don't know, to always be in continuous learning mode, to always be deep thinkers. People who think deeply, write well, and are continuous learners are going to prosper in any environment. I think the same in this environment."
Bowen’s career and zeal for foundational lawyering skills are evidence of what it takes to outlast the AI and technological innovations to come. In her mind, emerging concerns about the use of technology in the legal field can be countered by cultivating an irreplaceable skill set.
"It's a double-sided coin,” she says. “As other technologies have done, [AI] will consume some of the less intellectual aspects of our practice. But the deeper thinker you are, the less likely you are to be subsumed by technology. Legal writing and writing well is incredibly important, and being willing to change and move with the environment . These soft skills will continue to be important.”
Bowen predicts future legislative activity to further define the role technology plays in our personal lives and professional industries as we become more knowledgeable of its benefits, drawbacks, impact and ethical issues. Despite those uncertainties, she remains unfazed by the changes to come because of her belief that good lawyers with good fundamentals will, in her words, "get the job done."
-Written by Joy Ki-Peum Hong (J.D. '24)