My AI 301 Bootcamp, Now in Video

Learn how lawyers direct AI agents and run a coding cycle. My 50-minute session, free for subscribers.

Note: The link to the full bootcamp is available for subscribers in the Substack email of this post or my welcome letter.

Engineers and lawyers do similar work. Lawyers just write in a more complex code.

We call it English.

I teach lawyers about AI using the same agentic coding tools that are revolutionizing software engineering. This started two months ago when I began hosting get-togethers of lawyers curious about AI.

After 20 live sessions with over 150 attendees, I’ve turned that 50-minute bootcamp into a video course. It’s free, and I charge nothing.

I call it AI 301: Frontier AI for Lawyers.

In 50 minutes you’ll set up your AI agent, personalize it, manage its memory and code your first small project.

Watching engineers shift from typing code to directing agents gives us a glimpse of where lawyers go next.

I make my bootcamps free because lawyers should see this technology firsthand, with both its strengths and weaknesses. Let’s get past the hype in AI and see for ourselves.

Through these bootcamps I’ve met many curious people who are excited to experiment and learn. This has been the most fun I’ve ever had as a lawyer.

Check out the AI 301 bootcamp and let me know your thoughts, especially what you hope to learn more about in law and AI. The bootcamp comes with a full setup guide, FAQs and even homework to practice with.

The bootcamp syllabus

1. Build AI intuition

AI 101 was chats. 201 was prompts. 301 is agents and the foundations of coding. Learn to direct thinking machines even as the software tooling changes.

2. Why learn AI in the terminal

Lawyers care about precision and craft. The terminal exposes every AI feature and every dial. It’s slower to learn but gives you maximum control.

3. Multi-agent workflow demo

See three agents run side by side in a split terminal, a preview of how agentic workflows can feel.

4. Setting up your agent

Learn to start setting up an agent with basic introductory commands. /model picks the brain. /effort dials thinking up or down. /config controls settings. /statusline builds your dashboard: working folder, dollar cost, model, context window.

5. Permissions

Read every permission prompt. When the agent asks to run something cryptic, paste it back and ask, “explain this in plain English.” The self-healing feedback loop: use AI to learn about AI.

6. The CLAUDE.md

Every agent has a system prompt. These are the standing instructions it reads every session. In Claude Code, that file is a plain text file in the markdown format called CLAUDE.md. Run /init to build one, much like an onboarding memo for a junior associate.

7. Personalizing CLAUDE.md

Make the agent yours. Start with your writing style, then layer on whatever you find yourself repeating in your daily work.

8. The context window

The context window is the most important number in AI. It’s the agent’s working memory, shown as a percentage in the status line.

Be mindful of subtle, but increasing, output drift by your AI once you use 30% of your context window. It’s like answering a complex question at the end of a long day. /context shows where you are. /clear wipes the slate of your chat history before the next task.

9. Plan → build

Press shift + tab for plan mode. The agent brainstorms but takes no action until you greenlight it.

Engineers now spend most of their time here in planning. The actual code is what AI made cheap; the leverage is in directing the architecture, not typing the syntax. We use plan mode to code a legal Latin flashcard game.

10. Revising the build

First drafts are never final. Re-enter plan mode and ask the agent how to improve aesthetic, depth and mechanics. Brainstorm with AI as your thought partner.

11. Recap + AI 302: Agentic Workflows

In 301, you onboarded the associate. AI 302 on Agentic Workflows is where you train the associate in your style: custom commands for repeatable tasks, memory so the agent remembers your matters across sessions, project-specific briefs layered on top of the global ones.