UHLC's Megan Daic Earns National Recognition for AI-Driven Advocacy Platform
– At the University of Houston Law Center, Megan Daic is rethinking the way advocacy is taught. The adjunct professor and Alternative Dispute Resolution program co-director has been named one of the recipients of the Innovation in Advocacy Education Award by Syracuse University College of Law for creating Empathic Edge, an AI-driven training platform changing how students build real-world skills.
Empathic Edge allows students to engage in realistic, on-demand advocacy interactions, prioritizing progressive learning, reflection, and emotional intelligence. By removing many logistical barriers from traditional skills training, Daic's platform makes meaningful, repeatable practice more accessible.
The idea grew from a pattern Daic saw in students and new lawyers. "I kept watching brilliant students freeze up the moment they were in front of a real client or across the table from an opposing counsel," she said. "Not because they didn't know the law, but because they'd never had enough reps doing the actual human work of lawyering."
That gap became the foundation for Empathic Edge. "New lawyers struggle with the moment a client starts crying, or [when] a negotiation partner goes silent, or when [they] have to deliver news [the] client doesn't want to hear," she said. "Empathic Edge was built to give students a place to practice those moments before the stakes are real."
Traditional training often depends on scheduling, faculty availability, and peer participation—factors that often limit how often students can practice.
"Empathic Edge makes practice available on demand," Daic said. "A student can run a negotiation simulation before a competition, try a negotiation scenario three different ways in an hour, and get structured feedback after each attempt without waiting for a debrief."
The platform encourages experimentation and removes the fear of failure. "When students know a 'mistake' just means the scenario resets, they take risks they wouldn't otherwise take," she said. "My teaching philosophy has always been: learn, apply, practice, receive feedback, repeat—and Empathic Edge is built around that loop."
Looking ahead, Daic hopes to expand the platform's reach. The platform will launch publicly in May, with an initial focus on bringing the platform into settings where skills training is often under-resourced. She also aims to develop consulting services for the platform that partner with real firms and programs. "Longer term, I'm excited about understanding where students consistently struggle, which skills are hardest to build, and what feedback actually produces change," she said.
Daic's work is shaped by her roles as both an educator and an attorney. She is the founder and managing attorney of Daic Law, an award-winning law firm that specializes in debt defense, business and civil litigation, and personal injury. At the Law Center she teaches various courses in negotiation and advocacy while co-directing the ADR program and coaching students in national competitions. A UHLC graduate and a member of the Order of the Barristers, Daic (J.D. '13) also holds a Certificate in Negotiation from Harvard's Program on Negotiation, reflecting her continued focus on dispute resolution as a core component of effective advocacy.
"[This award] means a great deal," she said. "[It] is a reminder that the legal education community is ready to embrace what's possible. I stand on the shoulders of every student and colleague at UHLC who pushed back on my ideas, raised the bar, and made the thinking sharper."
Q&A with Megan Daic
What advice do you have for UHLC students, especially those interested in advocacy?
MD: Get uncomfortable early and often. The students I've seen grow the most are the ones who were willing to make mistakes and ask for honest feedback. Advocacy is a performance skill, and you cannot read your way to competence. You have to do it badly until you do it better. I'd also encourage students to treat every interaction as a practice opportunity. The skill of reading a room is built in the small moments long before you ever walk into a courtroom or a mediation session.
Who is your role model?
MD: My mom and my husband, but for completely different reasons. My mom has always been a strong, opinionated, entrepreneurial woman. She modeled for me early on that you don't wait for permission...you just do it. My husband is one of the most intentional communicators I've ever encountered. I learn from watching him constantly: how he de-escalates, how he sets boundaries with grace, how he makes people feel heard even in hard conversations. For someone who teaches negotiation and communication for a living, I'll admit I'm still very much a student when it comes to him.
What is something your students would be surprised to learn about you?
MD: That I'm a natural introvert. I think people who know me in the classroom or in competition settings assume I'm energized by being "on"—and I genuinely love that work—but I recharge at home. The advocacy world rewards extroversion, and I've learned to work with my own wiring rather than fight it. I think that's actually part of why I'm so drawn to building tools that let students practice privately, on their own terms, before they have to perform.
