A.I. & Law

A.I & Law - Professor Tabrez Ebrahim

• Course Number: LAW-215
• Course Type: Highly Specialized
• Credits: 2
• Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
• Description: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly pervasive in areas of law, society, policy, and law practice. This course provides a dive into the dynamic intersection of AI and the law. Beginning with an essential primer on various forms and functionalities of AI, ranging from traditional AI to generative AI, participants will gain a solid understanding of how these technologies are built, how they work, and what they are used for. This class will provide an introduction to the term AI, how the law treats AI, and business and societal responses. We will consider what AI is, how the law shapes its development and regulation generally, and implications in some specific subject matter areas. Readings will include legal scholarship, scholarship from other fields, and cases, statutes, regulations, and legal practice know-how. This course builds students’ AI knowledge through developing an understanding of legal practice management products, software, and tools that lawyers encounter in various settings, including a law firm, corporation, administrative agency or government organization, nonprofit, law library, or academic setting. This course explores the topics, technology, and skills required to gain practice in the successful application of AI to address key legal skill sets and use cases. In so doing, this course helps students to develop an understanding of how the existence and development of AI is influenced by the law and the legal industry (and vice versa) and how AI is being used in legal practice, the ethical duties and professional responsibility considerations that arise from using AI in legal practice, and the broader societal issues attorneys should be considered when adopting AI in the practice of law. No AI background is required, but students must be willing to engage with AI use. Class will be centered on robust discussion, guest lectures, readings, current events, and group discussion questions. By the end of this course, participants will emerge with a nuanced grasp of AI’s multifaceted role in the legal domain and gain a foundation of benefits, capabilities, and risks of AI in law. They will be better equipped to navigate the complexities and uncertainties posed by AI technologies to a rapidly evolving legal practice landscape and learn to use AI responsibly and ethically in preparation for their career as a modern lawyer.
• Prerequisite: none
• Evaluation Method: Research memo, individual report, presentation, exam, and participation as a student expert
• Capstone: no
• WIE: no