Law Schools and AI: What Attorneys Should Learn from the Classroom

Law Schools and AI: What Attorneys Should Learn from the Classroom

Law schools are no longer debating whether artificial intelligence belongs in legal education; they are testing how it should be used. According to a Bloomberg Law article by David Reiss of Cornell Law School and Robert MacKenzie of NYU School of Law, a semester-long integration of AI tools into an Entrepreneurship Clinic offers practical insights for both legal education and transactional practice.

The authors explain that students are already using AI in legal work, ranging from avoidance to heavy reliance. This reality requires educators, and by extension employers, to actively guide appropriate use rather than ignore it. In the clinic, students received structured training on AI tools from Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and Westlaw, alongside demonstrations showing how AI can accelerate work while also introducing risk when judgment is outsourced.

A core lesson was that AI tools vary widely in their capabilities and constraints. Reiss and MacKenzie describe simulations in which students completed identical tasks using different platforms. Results diverged sharply: some tools produced fast, fluent answers that were unreliable, while specialized legal AI tools were more cautious and accurate but frequently stopped short of completing requests. These differences helped students understand that AI outputs cannot replace independent legal judgment.

The clinic also highlighted AI’s strength as a second set of eyes. When used for issue-spotting and verification, AI surfaced relevant risks and occasional blind spots that humans missed. However, faculty oversight was essential to assess which AI-generated points merited action. The authors stress that AI delegation only works when lawyers can independently verify results.

Law schools are training future associates to treat AI as an assistive tool, not a substitute for thinking. Firms that reinforce this distinction, clarifying when AI supports work versus undermines judgment, will be better positioned to develop competent, accountable lawyers as AI becomes embedded in daily practice.