IMDA, Legal Bodies Launch AI Training for Lawyers and In-House Counsel

IMDA, the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association will run programmes on AI use in legal research, drafting, case analysis and contract management.

Lawyers and in-house counsel in Singapore will be able to take role-specific training on using artificial intelligence (AI) in their day-to-day work under two new programmes backed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) and Singapore Corporate Counsel Association (SCCA) will run separate AIxLegal courses under IMDA's National AI Impact Programme. The programmes aim to build AI fluency across the legal profession over the next three years.

AIxLegal by SAL is for practising lawyers. It covers AI use in legal research, drafting, case analysis and other common workflows, with additional tracks for criminal, family, and personal-injury and property-damage practice.

The programme will include tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Legora and vLex. It is offered in physical and virtual sessions, and costs $200 before goods and services tax for SAL members.

"Increasingly, lawyers are looking to move beyond general-purpose AI tools and use legal AI tools more effectively in their work. Our priority is to equip lawyers with the skills and confidence to use legal AI tools well, understand their limitations and risks, and exercise the professional judgment needed to provide sound counsel while upholding high ethical standards," says SAL Chief Executive Yeong Zee Kin.

Meanwhile, AIxLegal by SCCA is aimed at in-house legal and allied legal professionals, with separate tracks for generative AI and agentic AI. It will focus on corporate legal work including contract management, document management and legal research.

The programme is tentatively scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027. Each track includes online webinars, an AI tools demonstration, and an in-person workshop applying AI to realistic in-house scenarios.

"AI is opening up new possibilities for in-house counsel to rethink how legal work is delivered and the value they can bring to their organisations. Through structured learning and real-world application, we hope to help shape the future of in-house legal practice," says SCCA Chief Executive Officer Bryan Yeo.

The programmes build on early use cases in the legal profession. At the State Courts, an AI-assisted process helps prepare court document bundles, with a lawyer reviewing the extracted material before formatting it for submission. Tribunal Magistrate Terrence Lerh says the workflow has reduced preparation time from two to three hours to about 15 minutes.

Separately, IMDA said it will offer almost 2,000 job and training opportunities through Company-Led Training partnerships with more than 20 companies, including Accenture, Microsoft, NCS and NTUC LearningHub.

Fresh graduates and mid-career professionals will be hired into AI, cybersecurity, data and software roles before receiving instructor-led and on-the-job training. The work will include developing AI applications, integrating enterprise systems and supporting digital-transformation projects in industries including finance, healthcare, logistics and technology.

Besides that, IMDA named PwC as the fourth partner in its Digital Leaders Acceleration Bootcamp, joining BCG, EY-Parthenon and IBM. The programme is designed to help business leaders use digital technologies, including AI, to improve their businesses.

"These [efforts] reinforce [Singapore's] belief that across the entire workforce, domain knowledge, judgement and creativity will continue to matter. But our people will be even more relevant if they can use AI effectively to add value to their employers and their clients," says Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo at the Singapore Computer Society's Tech3 Forum 2026 earlier today. 

She continues: "Singapore is more relevant if our businesses are more competitive and our people more capable. Businesses are more likely to succeed if the overall economy and our human capital expand. People have better prospects when Singapore enables our businesses to thrive."