Pillsbury Teams with rubi to Augment Human-Led Lawyer Development Program with AI

The firm joins The University of Texas School of Law and the University of Minnesota Law School, which previously announced partnerships with rubi to make its training platform available to students. Texas Law will make the platform available to the entire law school, while Minnesota Law’s Corporate Institute intends to make it available through a competitive application process.

“At Pillsbury, we believe AI is most powerful when it reinforces and amplifies the experience and judgment of well-trained lawyers,” said David Dekker, Pillsbury’s Firm Chair. “rubi adds another dimension to the human-led development of junior lawyers by giving them more opportunities to practice their skills, learn from feedback and make the most of the mentoring relationships they build directly with firm partners.”

Pillsbury’s adoption of rubi follows a successful pilot of the platform for first-year associates. As AI handles an increasing number of tasks that traditionally afforded junior lawyers opportunities to learn through repetition, the rubi AI Mentor provides a controlled environment in which associates can practice foundational skills, work through questions and receive immediate feedback without using client or matter information.

Every associate using rubi progresses through the same structured apprenticeship, establishing a shared baseline of knowledge and skills. The AI Mentor builds on that foundation through three specialized modes designed to provide on-demand practical guidance modeled on the support of an experienced senior associate; offer personalized practice scenarios grounded in transactional work and calibrated to each user’s progress through the program; or simulate law firm interviews and collect feedback to refine responses. The platform requires no client or matter information, and user conversations are not used to train third-party AI models.

Developed by former practicing transactional attorneys, the rubi AI Mentor draws on three years of rubi’s proprietary intellectual property and more than 25,000 billable hours of experience. It is designed to convey practical knowledge that is often learned gradually through direct experience rather than found in traditional reference materials.

“Pillsbury is exactly the kind of partner we designed rubi for," said rubi founders Madison Keeble and Geetika Jerath. "As AI changes how junior lawyers learn, the institutions that adapt first are setting the standard for how the next generation of lawyers is trained. rubi is built on the belief that apprenticeship is still the best way to learn how to practice law, and that AI, used intentionally, can help it evolve with the profession. We're proud to have Pillsbury leading the way with us."