Bench & Bar March/April 2025

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS PART OF REALITY AT CHASE COLLEGE OF LAW

B y now, there is nothing artificial about Artificial Intelligence. It is real. It is here. And it is a force in law schools and practices. It can be good ‒ by creating efficiencies and simplifying forms and legal information for nonlawyers. It can be bad ‒ by opening doors to cheat ing, masking incompetence and breaching privacy. At Salmon P. Chase College of Law, con sideration of the ramifications of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, began almost two years ago. On the good side of it: an initial course on Law and Artificial Intelligence, with other courses being developed and AI issues being integrated into existing courses. On the bad side: concerns that AI could enable some students to hide what they had not learned or should have done on their own. “The arrival and inevitable growth of AI in law schools and the legal profession warrants careful planning coupled with humble agility,” Dean Judith Daar explains. “A core service that lawyers deliver is the accumulation, analysis and presentation of information, tasks arguably performed by generative artificial intelligence systems. Now is the time for law schools to embrace these large learning models for their power to increase access to justice, improve effi ciency in the profession and expand connections within the rule of law. We must educate our students in the optimal ethical use of these powerful tools so they can serve tomorrow’s clients with distinction.” For students, the ethical issues are part of comprehending substantive knowledge.

“There are several ethical implications sur rounding a lawyer's use of AI, which is why it is crucial that students learn to be respon sible and ethical consumers of AI (after they learn the foundational skills necessary to practice law, such as legal analysis and legal writing, without relying upon AI),” says Danielle Lewis, director of trial and appel late advocacy programs, who has written and spoken on AI issues in practice. “Law students should be aware and wary of the limitations of generative AI, including its ability to ‘hallucinate,’ or to provide false information. There are also significant con fidentiality concerns involved with sharing any client information with an AI program.” Both the initial AI course and another this academic year delve into the key issues of core usage and ethics. In Law and Artificial Intelligence, students explore the impact of AI in such areas as criminal justice, torts and commerce, and in the general practice of law. There is atten tion to understanding the ethical, legal and technological challenges ahead when they enter practice and AI is more prevalent. IN A NEW COURSE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO USE AI TO BENE FIT SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE, AND HOW TO AVOID TRAPS OF RACIAL, GENDER AND OTHER BIASES THAT CAN BE LEARNED INTO AI. On the bad side of AI in law schools is a concern that some students could use it to cheat.

Danielle Lewis, Chase director of trial and appellate advocacy programs, has written and spoken on AI issues.

“ One concern is that some students could be tempted to rely upon generative AI pro grams to assist them with fundamental lawyering skills, such as reading, writing and legal analysis, instead of learning to perform those crucial skills without assis tance,” Ms. Lewis says. “Without developing those skills independently of generative AI programs, law students will not be fully pre pared to enter the practice of law.” In an early attempt to thwart any temptation to cheat, the Chase faculty strengthened the student honor code prohibitions on plagiarism and academic dishonesty to spe cifically prohibit use of AI, unless allowed by a professor for a legitimate purpose. “The faculty looked at our policies on aca demic integrity and decided that while they would apply to AI just as much as cut ting-and-pasting from the Internet would, the potential for AI to go beyond ‘borrow ing’ a paragraph here and there made it important to specifically address the issue,” says Associate Dean and Professor Law rence Rosenthal, who oversees academic programs and honor code compliance. Whether for good or bad, AI is now as much a part of law school as torts and contracts.

25 bench & bar