A legal assistant position was recently replaced by an artificial intelligence company called Llama Labs, leaving a Point Loma Nazarene University alum unemployed.
Llama Labs, a company with an AI-powered medical record management platform, was designed to assist medical and legal professionals. This company has been taken up by firms such as Haffner and Morgan, where a PLNU 2023 political science alum, who requested anonymity due to embarrassment, had worked for one year.
Kristen Bruce, eDiscovery counsel for the state of California, has experience in both private and public legal sectors. Having first encountered AI-driven tools while handling large volumes of electronic evidence at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Bruce now works at the forefront of integrating AI into state legal processes.
“AI has been around in the legal field for a long time,” Bruce said in an email interview. “It’s the emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) that has become the hot topic in law. The difference between traditional AI and GenAI is that traditional AI focuses on learning from data to make predictions, while GenAI can take that same learned data and create new and unique content.”
According to Bruce, document review and legal research have been simplified due to AI’s ability to sift through thousands of documents to identify relevant information faster and more accurately than human reviewers. Yet, this boost in efficiency has come at a cost for several paralegals and legal assistants, such as the alum.
“All I could think about was the defeat of working so hard in college just to have it taken away so quickly,” the alum said. “[AI] is definitely super beneficial for law firms, but unfortunately takes jobs away from people who are trying to get their foot in the door.”
Despite their experience firsthand on what AI replacement is like, current PLNU students, like Indie Hoffman, a second-year political science major, remain cautious.
“I think it is wild how AI has managed to take over several jobs, even ones that have been around forever, like legal practices,” Hoffman said. “I would have never thought that this would be a major concern for myself and my colleagues several years ago.”
Even as AI changes the workplace, the alum remains optimistic. Despite their position being taken over by technology, they said that the legal field still requires human judgment and personal connection.
“My goals have definitely shifted, being that the future for me as I see it is a little unpredictable,” the alum said. “But I also love a challenge and believe that I can still achieve my dream of helping people through our legal system by choosing another route in the legal world.”
Sofy Guarneros, a second-year political science major, agrees that human qualities cannot be replaced by AI.
“At the end, personality is something that AI doesn’t have, so if you have a strong positive personality, there’s no way a machine will replace you,” Guarneros said.
For many political science majors, Guarneros’s statement reflects tensions about the future of their careers. According to Bruce, adaptability will also be key for young professionals entering the legal field.
“AI will not eliminate legal careers, but it will push out those unwilling or unable to adapt,” she said. “AI is not taking away opportunities in the law, only reshaping careers and introducing new opportunities. The human element will always be required — there is no substitute for legal education, skill and judgment.”
Bruce also said that there are new areas of law that are expanding as AI evolves, including data security, intellectual property and legal technology.
“New roles in legal operations, tech consulting and AI governance are emerging,” Bruce said. “Because of evolving threats, there are jobs growing in both internal legal divisions and class actions that cover data breach cases or misuse of personal likeness.”
While technology may be reshaping traditional career pathways, the alum said that remaining flexible is critical to professional success.
“I think we are all experiencing just a new part of life and a challenge we as humans can adapt to,” they said. “It was definitely a defeating feeling, being that I went to PLNU and worked hard for my degree, but I don’t think that AI will be able to take over if we don’t allow it to.”
Zoey Peters 
Sydney Brammer