#83 The "Cheat Code" to Upskilling 100,000 Lawyers on AI

Nov 27, 2025

Colin Lachance, founder of LawQi and former manager of the Canadian Legal Information Institute, shares his mission to upskill 100,000 lawyers on AI. He emphasizes the urgency for attorneys to grasp AI fundamentals, introducing an innovative interactive sandbox for hands-on learning. Colin challenges traditional legal education by offering affordable access for bar associations. He discusses the transformative potential of AI in legal practices and his unique entrepreneurial philosophy of prioritizing impactful growth over revenue.

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ANECDOTE

Early Camp Sparked Legal Curiosity

Colin first encountered law at age 10 in a day camp module that framed law as rules of the game.
He describes that exposure as a “cheat code to society” that sparked his interest in law school later.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Career At The Intersection Of Law And Tech

After articling, Colin moved from a small firm to telecom regulatory work and then spent decades at the intersection of law and technology.
He recounts working on telecom, broadcasting, copyright and later legal publishing and legal tech.

insights

INSIGHT

CanLII Gave A Wide-Angle View

Managing CanLII gave Colin a vantage point into legal research, regulation, and market shifts.
That perch revealed how legal markets and technology trends converge and accelerate change.

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Colin's early exposure to law

00:20 • 2min

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Choosing law and early entrepreneurship

02:21 • 3min

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Tech-focused legal career

05:01 • 3min

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Origin of PGYA consulting

07:35 • 60sec

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Consulting work and market research

08:34 • 1min

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Using AI for deep research

09:58 • 3min

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Genesis of LawQi and AI Academy

12:30 • 3min

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LawQi course design and interactivity

15:31 • 4min

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How LawQi's AI assistant works

19:04 • 27sec

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Pricing and content updates

19:31 • 59sec

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AI advances and the Clio watershed

20:30 • 3min

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Implications for solos and hourly billing

23:12 • 2min

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Lawyers' fears and market changes

24:52 • 1min

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Vibe coding and rapid prototyping

Unasked question and personal notes

34:38 • 2min

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Vision: upskilling 100,000 lawyers

36:27 • 4min

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Business growth and limits

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Colin Lachance's journey began at age 10, when a fateful summer camp experience introduced him to law as society's "cheat code." That early exposure launched a decades-long career from telecom regulatory law to becoming an entrepreneur determined to prevent lawyers from being left behind by AI.

In this episode of Lawyers Who Learn, host David Schnurman explores Colin's unconventional path to founding LawQi, a platform on a mission to upskill 100,000 attorneys on AI fundamentals before it's too late. After managing the Canadian Legal Information Institute, Canada's most-used legal research resource, Colin recognized an urgent problem: attorneys have a shrinking window to understand how AI works at its core before being relegated to using narrow tools without comprehension.

His solution? An interactive sandbox called LawQi, where lawyers learn by doing, guided by an AI assistant trained on the course materials. Colin's contrarian approach challenges traditional legal education. Forgoing CLE accreditation, he charges bar associations as little as $1 per member annually, reflecting his mission-driven focus on impact over revenue.

The conversation reveals Colin's unconventional entrepreneurial philosophy—intentionally building a business with a limited lifespan, capping growth at 10 employees, and measuring success by transformation rather than typical venture metrics. His goal is to reach 100,000 lawyers by 2030, building trust to navigate whatever comes next in an unpredictable AI landscape.

Colin's journey serves as a wake-up call for legal professionals witnessing AI's rapid integration across research and practice management tools, as demonstrated in Jack Newton's pivotal Clio keynote that left 2,500 lawyers uncomfortably silent about their future. His story urges attorneys to proactively upskill before the window of opportunity closes.

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