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Lawyers test “vibe coding” as a way to build legal tools with AI

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16

Why it matters

Vibe coding—building software through natural-language description and iterative AI refinement—is not yet ready for legal work, according to recent analysis in Above the Law. The practice, popularized by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in 2025, uses platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and Gemini to generate code without traditional programming. Legal tech teams and law firms have begun experimenting with the method for quick prototypes, internal utilities, and repetitive tasks such as deadline calculators and contract-data extraction.

The consensus among legal tech vendors and practitioners is cautious. Vibe coding works for low-stakes automation—formatting, intake forms, simple utilities—but carries significant risks when applied to confidential data, complex workflows, or production-grade legal analysis. The critical gap remains the need for human review before deployment in any client-facing or substantive context.

Attorneys should treat vibe coding as a prototyping tool, not a replacement for traditional development or legal judgment. The speed advantage is real, but so are the governance and accuracy risks. Any firm experimenting with AI-generated code should establish clear guardrails: restrict use to non-confidential work, require human code review before production, and avoid feeding client data or sensitive information into these systems. The technology is advancing rapidly, but legal applications remain in the experimental phase.

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