Educational drafting challenge
Beyond Precedent
A supervised drafting challenge for the AI era.
Beyond Precedent is Beyond Horizons’ educational drafting challenge: two law students from any country draft an agreement or legal document using ten prompts and free public AI tools, then revise with a short edit log. Think of it as a moot, but for the AI era: it is supervised and scored, and instead of advocacy, students are tested on judgment over AI-assisted drafting. The page centres the academic research that grounds the work and how our team — which started independently in 2023 — is designing legal services for a post-AI age, including how talent learns when generative AI sits in the first draft.
Beyond Precedent is an educational drafting challenge run by Beyond Horizons. It is not legal advice, not a client engagement, and not a guarantee of internship, employment, or any other opportunity with Beyond Horizons or any related entity. Student drafts and edit logs are teaching materials only and must not be used with real counterparties.
Watch the trailer: Beyond Precedent, Episode 1
Can public AI tools draft a sponsorship agreement in 15 minutes? In Episode 1, The Energy Drink Influencer, two law students each draft a sponsorship agreement with public AI tools of their choice, which they name. Experienced legal professionals judge the challenge, and our host, Sonia Motwani, adds a twist. Watch the full episode.
In Episode 1 of Beyond Precedent, "The Energy Drink Influencer", law students Harish and Boyuan each draft a contract between an energy drink brand called Rest (fictional) and an influencer, using public AI tools of their choice. Host Sonia Motwani keeps the clock and delivers the twist. Judging the challenge: Hui Ling Teo and Zeng Hanyi, with guest in-house counsel Shen Yang. Producer and director: Amrita.
They called us the new kids on the block. We say we’re beyond precedent. We’re building talent that thrives in a post-AI age. Email HL@beyondhorizons.sg
Beyond Horizons by Bethel Chambers LLC. Educational content; not legal advice. Music generated with Google Gemini.
Why we started this
Beyond Horizons’ team began independently in 2023.
Beyond Precedent began when Hui Ling Teo pitched a vibe drafting challenge in 2024.
As a practice we took on a further challenge: design legal services for a post-AI age, including how to develop legal talent when models produce the first draft.
How it works
- Invite two law students (any nation) into a supervised session.
- Issue a fixed set of ten drafting prompts (fictional / teaching fact patterns only).
- Each student drafts with any free public AI tool and names the tool (and model if known).
Research premise
Firms and schools are testing how generative AI changes junior drafting speed, quality, and later judgment. Beyond Horizons runs Beyond Precedent to explore talent development and service design in that setting. The studies do not endorse Beyond Horizons.
University of Minnesota exam study (Choi & Schwarcz), as reported by Reuters, 29 August 2023
- Students sat exams without AI, then with GPT-4 after prompting training.
- As reported, multiple-choice scores rose sharply with GPT-4 (about +29 points overall; about +45 for lower-performing students).
- As reported, essay performance did not improve on average; top performers scored about 20 points lower with GPT-4.
- The authors discussed a possible equalizing effect across skill levels, and cautioned that heavy AI framing can blunt independent issue-spotting.
Read the Reuters reportBednar, Cleveland, Erbsen & Schwarcz — Artificial Intelligence and Human Legal Reasoning
- As reported, a randomised controlled trial of roughly 100 upper-level Minnesota law students across synthesis, comprehension, application and revision tasks.
- In that study, AI on early synthesis produced stronger, faster memos.
- Early AI use did not impair later comprehension; the AI-exposed group outperformed on a later application task without AI.
- When everyone used AI to revise, weaker memos improved and stronger memos often regressed.
- The authors’ takeaway: AI does not inevitably erode or promote independent legal reasoning — effects depend on when and how it is used.
Read the SSRN abstractBeyond Precedent therefore trains the skill the research keeps circling — judgment about when to trust, rewrite, or reject a model draft — not “faster paste.”
Figures and findings are summarised from published research as reported in the cited sources. They describe those studies’ settings and do not predict outcomes for any particular student, lawyer, or matter.
Context: AI and how young lawyers learn
On 9 April 2026, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon gave the opening keynote at the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Legal Congress 2026, hosted by the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association. He spoke to in-house counsel about AI risk, using AI in legal teams, and training junior lawyers. A few short passages touch on the questions Beyond Precedent explores.
“The legal profession has long been sustained by apprenticeship, where tacit knowledge and professional instinct are acquired through years of practice and observation. The problem is that the formative tasks central to building one’s craft tend to be the very tasks that are most vulnerable to automation.” (para 26)
“As opportunities for learning by repetition and osmosis contract, we must do more to safeguard the training ground for our younger colleagues. This may include introducing deliberate friction by requiring certain tasks to be performed manually or with limited AI assistance, coupled with structured feedback and a process of internalisation.” (para 35)
“The goal of AI adoption should be to expand our capacity for higher-order and higher-impact work, not to provide cover for vacating our judgment.” (para 24)
— The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, “Corporate Counsel: Shepherds in an Age of Generative AI”, Opening Keynote, APAC Legal Congress 2026, 9 April 2026. Short excerpts quoted word for word; footnote markers left out.
Read the full speech on the Singapore Courts websiteWe read these passages as a question for anyone who trains young lawyers: if AI produces more of the first draft, how do they still learn the craft? Beyond Precedent is our small, practical way of working on that question: law students draft with AI, then show in an edit log what they checked, fixed or rejected, and get feedback from the judging panel. We quote the speech for discussion and review only. The Chief Justice and the Singapore Judiciary are not associated with Beyond Horizons or Beyond Precedent and do not endorse either.
Why a law firm runs this
- Designing legal services for a post-AI age.
- Talent development when generative AI sits in the first draft.
- Supervising AI drafts as a professional skill for juniors.
- Separating “first draft from a model” from “counsel-ready paper.”
Frequently asked questions
What is Beyond Precedent?
Beyond Precedent is Beyond Horizons’ educational drafting challenge — best understood as a supervised drafting challenge for the AI era. Beyond Precedent began when Hui Ling Teo pitched a vibe drafting challenge in 2024. In each session, two law students from any country draft an agreement or legal document using ten prompts on free AI tools, then revise with a short edit log. Think of it as a moot, but for the AI era: it is supervised and scored, and instead of advocacy, it tests judgment over AI-assisted drafting. The firm uses the programme to explore how talent develops and how legal services should be designed when generative AI is in the first draft.
Who can take part?
Law students from any nation may be invited into a session. Participation is by selection for each cohort; this page describes the concept — it is not an open application portal unless a live apply form is added later.
What do the ten prompts and free AI tools mean in practice?
Each pair works from a fixed set of ten drafting prompts and may use publicly available free AI writing tools. The point is not a vendor bake-off. The point is to watch how students prompt, what the model returns, and what human editing must still do.
What are “post-editing work products”?
After the AI-assisted first pass, students revise the draft and record a short edit log. When cleared for public view, the session archive may show selected revised excerpts or artefacts — illustrative only, not client deliverables and not legal advice.
How does research on AI and legal writing relate to this programme?
Public research often finds that generative AI can change drafting speed and can help some writers more than others, while quality and later reasoning still depend on human judgment. Beyond Precedent is grounded in that conversation, including widely reported AI-and-legal-writing studies and related academic work such as SSRN papers on AI and human legal reasoning. The firm uses the challenge to explore talent development and post-AI service design — it does not claim the studies endorse Beyond Horizons.
Is this a hiring pipeline or a job offer?
No. Beyond Precedent explores how future lawyers learn to supervise AI drafts. It is not a promise of employment, internship placement, pupillage, or a retainer.
Does Beyond Horizons use these session drafts for client matters?
No. Session materials are for teaching, demonstration, and talent-exploration only. Client work stays under separate engagement and professional obligations.
How do I follow sessions or ask about the next cohort?
Use the consultation or contact path on beyondhorizons.sg, or watch Insights for related writing.
Ask about the next cohort
Want Beyond Precedent for your team? Email HL@beyondhorizons.sg
Beyond Precedent is an educational drafting challenge run by Beyond Horizons. It is not legal advice, not a client engagement, and not a guarantee of internship, employment, or any other opportunity with Beyond Horizons or any related entity. Student drafts and edit logs are teaching materials only and must not be used with real counterparties.