Empathic Edge Enters a New Chapter: Design Partnerships Bring AI-Powered Practice Into the Classroom

I have always found the beginning of a new academic year exciting. There’s so much potential in the air. The classrooms are full and students and instructors are getting settled into new courses. This year, for me, it also means watching some of the ideas behind Empathic Edge move from development and experimentation into real-world use.

I am so proud to say that this month, we’re beginning a new chapter for Empathic Edge. We are embarking on our first ever Design Partnerships with law schools. Our goal is straightforward: work directly with educators and students to make Empathic Edge more useful, more realistic, and more responsive to the skills future attorneys actually need. And I couldn’t be more excited about where we’re starting.

What Is a Design Partnership?

A Design Partnership with Empathic Edge allows a law school to work directly with us to develop and refine AI-powered simulations around its students’ specific needs. That might mean developing scenarios for:

• Particular courses or subjects.
• Creating practice opportunities around a specific skill.
• Identifying ways AI-powered simulations can complement experiential learning.

The goal of these partnerships isn’t to replace what law schools are already doing. It’s to add another opportunity for students to practice real scenarios before the stakes are highest.

Beginning With Lewis & Clark

Next week, we’re beginning our first Design Partnership with Lewis & Clark Law School. Working directly with a law school gives us something incredibly valuable: perspective.

I can build simulations based on my experience as an attorney, mediator, and educator, but students and faculty bring a different perspective to communication and practice. They know which scenarios feel authentic and which skills deserve greater attention. That’s exactly what I want Empathic Edge to be. Not a static library of simulations, but a platform that continues to evolve based on the people who actually use it.

Preparing St. Mary’s Students for Competition

We’re also getting ready to begin competition preparation with students at St. Mary’s University School of Law. This is an especially exciting application of Empathic Edge because competitions give students an opportunity to put communication, negotiation, advocacy, and interpersonal skills into practice.

During the busy school year, preparation and practice time is limited. Students often feel overwhelmed and don’t have adequate time to meet with peers, instructors or coaches. With Empathic Edge, that changes:

• Students can study strategies.
• They can review past competitions.
• They can practice with or without classmates.

There is tremendous value in having an opportunity to step into a realistic scenario and work through the conversation itself. That is the space Empathic Edge can fill.

Building Custom Scenarios for Law Schools

Our team at Empathic Edge is also working with other law schools on custom scenarios designed around their particular needs. This is one of our projects that I am most excited about. Every law school has its own curriculum, students, and experiential learning opportunities. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t typically make sense. That’s why we are building custom scenarios for:

• A professor teaching negotiation who wants students to practice a particular type of conversation.
• An ADR program leader who wants scenarios focused on mediation or conflict resolution.
• A coach who is preparing students for advocacy competitions.

Custom scenarios allow us to meet those needs.

AI makes it possible to create interactive conversations that students can engage with repeatedly, allowing them to experiment with different approaches, encounter different responses, and build confidence before entering high-stakes situations.

Beyond the Classroom: Clinics and Advocacy Programs

The opportunities for Empathic Edge extend beyond the classroom. Clinics could use customized simulations to help users prepare for the conversations they will likely encounter in their practices.

• A small business clinic, for example, could give students opportunities to practice client interviews and counseling conversations.
• A transactional clinic could use simulations to explore client communication and negotiation.
• Mediation clinics could give students another way to practice managing difficult conversations, identifying interests, and resolving conflict.

These are exactly the kinds of experiential learning opportunities where practice matters most. Empathic Edge can complement the work faculty, coaches, and administrators are already doing by giving students another opportunity to practice, experiment, and build confidence before they enter the real conversation.

Interested in a Design Partnership or Trying Empathic Edge?

If you are an educator or admin interested in exploring how Empathic Edge could support your students, we would love to hear from you. And if you’re a student looking to strengthen your negotiation and communication skills, you can try Empathic Edge for free and start practicing today.