1Why
Why start with the problem
You know the problems in your own work better than any software vendor does. Vendors are technology companies that build for common tasks, and many problems in legal work are not covered by any commercial product.
Many AI projects fail because they start with a tool and look for a problem to use it on. In this course you choose a problem your team has, decide how it should be handled, and then build a first version of a solution.
You use Claude, an AI coding agent, which writes the code. You describe what you want in plain English and review what it builds, the way you review a junior's work. Once you have written down how the work should be done, Claude follows those rules every time. Lawyers already work this way with precedents and checklists.
2Outcome
What you'll be able to do by the end
By the last Saturday, you can do all of this on your own.
- See where AI can change how your team works, beyond helping one person do a task faster.
- Choose a problem worth solving, with help from the group.
- Redesign how it is handled: which steps a tool takes over, which stay with the lawyer, and where a lawyer must check.
- Turn the redesign into a brief that Claude can build from.
- Build a working first version with Claude, and improve it with clear feedback.
- Save it to GitHub and show it to the group.
- Keep going on your own: fix problems with Claude and plan the next version.
3The weeks
What you do, week by week
Each participant brings one problem from her own team. Building starts in session four.
The five weeks at a glance
| Week | Focus | What you do | What you learn | What you'll have |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session 1Change your perspective | How AI can change the way work is done | A guest speaker, a woman lawyer who builds with AI, shows how she changed the way her team works. We look at why many AI projects fail when nobody redesigns the work first. Before session two, you list five problems from your own week. | Where AI helps a team, beyond one person doing a task faster. | A list of five problems from your work. |
| Session 2Pick your problem | Choosing with the group | You share your five problems. The group helps you narrow them to three, looking at how often each one comes up, how long it takes, and how much a mistake would cost. During the week you choose one. | How to choose a problem worth solving, and keep it small enough to finish. | One chosen problem. |
| Session 3Redesign it | How the work should run | You write down how the problem is handled today, why it should change, and how it will run: which steps a tool takes over, which stay with the lawyer, and when a lawyer must check. A partner from another team asks questions. Then we show what a simple build looks like. | How to redesign a piece of work, and what a build involves. | A redesign, and a brief Claude can build from. |
| Session 4First draft | Building with Claude | Claude builds a first version from your brief. You review what it builds and tell it what to change, while the facilitators watch shared screens and help. | How to direct a build and check the result. | A working first draft on your computer. |
| Session 5Improve, save, show | Finishing version one | You improve your first version, save it to GitHub, and show it to the group. We cover what a tool needs before it is used with real client data, and how to keep going on your own. | How to keep improving a tool, and what real use would require. | A working first version on GitHub. |
The technical steps
You do not need any of this until week four. Claude writes the code for each step; you give the instructions and check the result.
| When | Step | What you do | What you'll have |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before session 4Setup | Accounts and Claude Code | In your own time, with a drop-in call for help: create Claude and GitHub accounts, install the Claude desktop app, and open a project in Claude Code with the standing instructions and memory files we provide. | Claude Code running on your computer. |
| Session 4First build | From brief to first draft | Save your redesign as a brief in the project. Ask Claude to plan the build, check the plan, then let it build. Review the result and give feedback. | A first draft that runs on your computer. |
| Session 5Save and share | GitHub | Save your work to a GitHub repository with Claude's help, and write a short description of what the tool does. | Your tool on GitHub. |
| OptionalNext steps | Going further | Publish the tool on the internet with Vercel, add a database and sign-in, or add an AI step. We cover these with anyone who wants to go further. | A tool you can open on your phone. |
4Method
How the course works
The problem comes first
Sessions one and two involve no tools. Building starts after the problem is chosen and the redesign is written down.
Choose with the group
You bring five problems. The group helps you narrow them to three, and you choose one, checking that it is small enough to finish in the course.
A buddy for each of you
Each participant is paired with a woman lawyer who has built with AI. She checks in during the week and helps with questions and errors.
Speakers
Guest speakers are women practitioners from law firms, in-house teams and innovation roles who build with AI in their own work. No vendors.
Short recordings
Each week has one recording of about seven minutes, with an audio version. The recordings cover the material if you miss a Saturday.
Auditing
You can join to watch and listen without bringing a problem, and help another participant with hers.
Standing instructions and memory
Before session four you receive a standing instructions file, adapted from the one published by Boris Cherny, who created Claude Code, and a memory file. Claude follows the instructions and records your decisions. You refine both as the tool develops.
5Sessions
How the sessions run
Remote, once a week, with both facilitators on every session.
When
Five weekly sessions of 90 minutes, on Saturdays at 13:00 Bangkok and 16:00 Brisbane. The first cohort starts in early 2027.
How a session goes
You arrive having watched or listened to the week's short recording. A facilitator or guest explains the week's step and shows it on real work, with client details removed. You apply it to your own problem, get feedback from a partner or the facilitators, and some of you share your work with the group.
The group
Ten to sixteen of you, with both facilitators on every call, and a buddy for each participant.
Between sessions
A short recording for the coming week, a check-in from your buddy, and a group chat that we check between sessions.
6Conduct
Confidentiality and conduct
The course is designed so you can take part safely as a practising lawyer.
The rule, from the first session to the last
Everything you build and present uses fictional data only. No client name, matter detail, privileged document, or real person's data goes into a prompt, a database, a presentation or your published tool, at any point across the five weeks. When you map a workflow from your team, describe the steps and use invented examples.
In the last session we cover what a tool needs before it is used with real client data at work: a security review, a confidentiality check under your conduct rules, and approval from your firm, and how to raise this at your firm.
7Cost
What it costs and what you need
The course runs on a not-for-profit basis. The main costs are a Claude subscription and your time.
What you'll pay for
| Item | When | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Pro subscription | From week four | ~US$20 / month |
| GitHub | Week five | US$0 |
| Optional: publishing, database, AI step | After the course | US$0 to ~US$5 |
- A computerYour own laptop, Windows or macOS, from week four.
- Five problemsThings that go wrong, wait or repeat in your team's work, described with invented examples. You list them after session one.
- Each weekThe 90-minute session, the short recording, and about 30 to 45 minutes on your own.
8After
After the course
Participants whose tool is on GitHub are listed in the directory of women lawyers who build with AI.
Each entry shows the builder, what she built, a link to the GitHub repository and a link to her LinkedIn profile. Each cohort's work is shared when the course ends. Past and current participants stay in one group chat.
9Team
Who you'll learn from
The course is designed and led by Abigail Serrano and Lana Kelly.
Both are practising lawyers who build their own tools with Claude, and they run every session between them. Abigail is a Senior Manager at SCG Legal Counsel Limited.