Here’s What Top Schools Are Doing to Produce AI-Proof Lawyers
AI can鈥檛 take over this part of the legal profession.
Key Takeaways
- Some of the top law schools in the U.S. are prohibiting AI in the classroom.
- The University of Chicago Law School recently announced that it will ban laptops, phones and tablets in the classroom for first-year law students starting this fall.
- Other law schools, like the University of California, Berkeley, have announced similar bans on technology.
The legal field is on the verge of major change, with AI startups like Harvey, Crosby and Soxton automating tasks. Even though AI is changing how lawyers think about their work, some of the top law schools in the U.S. are prohibiting its use. The goal is to equip tomorrow鈥檚 lawyers with the critical thinking skills that are essential to the profession.
For example, the University of Chicago Law School earlier this month that it will ban laptops, phones and tablets in the classroom for first-year law students starting this fall. The ban is one part of the university鈥檚 bigger initiative to prevent AI from encroaching on the in legal education. Professors use the method to ask students questions about legal theories rather than lecture them.
鈥淲e think that that kind of exchange should happen without it being intermediated by machines,鈥 Adam Chilton, dean of the University of Chicago Law School, told . 鈥淭here were already arguments about whether or not laptops made sense in classrooms, because they can both distract the student using them and the students around them, but those concerns are only amplified in the era of AI.鈥
Chilton added that the law school doesn鈥檛 want students to simply put the case name into Claude or ChatGPT, ask it for a summary and the questions their professor is likely to ask and then just read those answers when the professor calls on them.
No robots in court
The University of Chicago Law School isn鈥檛 just banning electronics in class. It鈥檚 also adding an in-person oral exam, on top of the research paper students already have to complete to earn their law degrees.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exactly the kind of skill [lawyers] need in a high-pressure meeting with a client, a negotiation, hearing or a trial,鈥 Chilton said.
The one AI-proof skill that lawyers need to have is the ability to engage in debate and discourse without the help of AI, per Inside Higher Ed.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e going to have robots arguing in court for us,鈥 Chilton said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still going to be humans that stand in front of a judge and stand in front of a jury and make oral arguments.鈥
Additional law schools follow suit
Other law schools have announced similar bans on technology. In May, the University of California, Berkeley, that starting in the summer, the law school will prohibit the use of AI in 鈥渃onceptualizing, outlining, drafting, revising, translating, or editing any work submitted for credit.鈥 The move ensures 鈥渢he best legal education possible for our students,鈥 the university asserted.
To add to the data points, in June, the dean of the law school at the University of Texas at Austin with using classroom time 鈥渢o engage students in sustained and rigorous dialogue.鈥 Professors should ensure that students are 鈥渘ot distracted by (let alone relying upon) whatever might be taking place on their screen at that time,鈥 the dean stated.
Key Takeaways
- Some of the top law schools in the U.S. are prohibiting AI in the classroom.
- The University of Chicago Law School recently announced that it will ban laptops, phones and tablets in the classroom for first-year law students starting this fall.
- Other law schools, like the University of California, Berkeley, have announced similar bans on technology.
The legal field is on the verge of major change, with AI startups like Harvey, Crosby and Soxton automating tasks. Even though AI is changing how lawyers think about their work, some of the top law schools in the U.S. are prohibiting its use. The goal is to equip tomorrow鈥檚 lawyers with the critical thinking skills that are essential to the profession.
For example, the University of Chicago Law School earlier this month that it will ban laptops, phones and tablets in the classroom for first-year law students starting this fall. The ban is one part of the university鈥檚 bigger initiative to prevent AI from encroaching on the in legal education. Professors use the method to ask students questions about legal theories rather than lecture them.
鈥淲e think that that kind of exchange should happen without it being intermediated by machines,鈥 Adam Chilton, dean of the University of Chicago Law School, told . 鈥淭here were already arguments about whether or not laptops made sense in classrooms, because they can both distract the student using them and the students around them, but those concerns are only amplified in the era of AI.鈥
