TED is bringing its learning model to the legal profession – here’s why
This January, TED is introducing TEDLaw, a new training experience designed to help lawyers step back from constant urgency and reconnect with the judgment, values and human insight that define meaningful legal practice.
Legal work has always required rigor, discipline and technical skill. But the context in which lawyers operate has changed — rapidly and irreversibly.
Over the past several months, in conversations with lawyers across sectors, we’ve heard the same thing: today’s most complex challenges are no longer solved by technical expertise alone. They require ethical judgment, collaboration across differences, cultural awareness and the ability to navigate emerging technologies like AI with care and responsibility.
At TED, we start with a simple belief: ideas change how people see the world — and how they act within it. That belief has shaped how TED engages educators, scientists, artists, technologists and global leaders. With TEDLaw, we’re applying that same learning philosophy to the legal profession.
TEDLaw is not a traditional training program; it doesn’t begin with rules, slides or checklists. Instead, it creates space for lawyers to step back, encounter powerful ideas and reflect on how those ideas shape judgment, leadership and professional identity. From there, participants engage in facilitated dialogue and real-world simulations that mirror the complexity of modern legal practice.
This approach reflects something we see across TED’s work: sustainable change doesn’t come from information alone. It comes from perspective shifts, shared reflection and the opportunity to test new ways of thinking in real-world contexts.
The TEDLaw experience is organized around five interconnected areas that consistently emerged from our conversations with legal professionals:
- Navigating Legal Identity and Values
- Critical Thinking for Legal Solutions
- Intuitive Collaboration in Law
- Cultural Competence in Legal Practice
- Practicing Law in the AI Age
Together, these pillars reflect a broader truth that the future of legal practice depends not only on what lawyers know but also on how they reason, relate and lead.
To bring this work to legal leaders at scale, TED is collaborating with organizations deeply embedded in the profession. Through a partnership with the ACC Foundation, TEDLaw will initially reach in-house legal leaders, creating space for reflection, peer learning and candid conversation about what it means to practice law well in a changing world.
Looking ahead, TEDLaw will also expand to law firms and other legal communities, extending TED’s learning model across the broader legal ecosystem.
At its core, TEDLaw is a fresh approach to legal education, one that’s rooted in listening, curiosity and a belief that even in a rule-bound profession, ideas still have the power to change everything.
Beginning in 2026, law firms will also have the opportunity to host TEDLaw training in partnership with TED and the ACC Foundation, extending this learning experience across the broader legal ecosystem. Learn more about TEDLaw.