Above the Law published an article by Joe Patrice covering Vanderbilt Law School's rollout of DepoSim, AltaClaro's AI-powered deposition simulator, as the first law school to put the tool in front of students through its AI Law Lab. The piece situates the partnership in a broader shift where law firms are hiring earlier, associate classes are getting smaller, and more of the practical training burden is moving back onto the academy.
The article walks through how DepoSim has grown since its February launch with a beta cohort of six elite firms, expanding to cases in employment, IP, complex commercial, and a real estate investment partnership dispute, with antitrust, securities, and mass torts queued up for imminent release. Expert witnesses and 30(b)(6) designees are on the roadmap, and in Q4, AltaClaro plans to move into simulators for oral argument, meet-and-confers, and cross-examination, all running on the same Rowan v. Heartbeat fact pattern so users can work through the lifecycle of a single matter.
The piece also captures the enthusiasm from Vanderbilt's first AltaClaro workshop, where Emily Pavuluri of the AI Law Lab noted that students arrived prepared with pointed questions, and AltaClaro CEO Abdi Shayesteh observed that the level of engagement matched what he sees from partners onboarding the technology at firms. As Patrice puts it, "DepoSim is not a replacement for pro bono work, but a tool that ensures a lawyer with 20 reps against a hostile witness under their belt will be ready to effectively protect a pro bono client."