Extract from Stefanie Lindquist and Oliver Roberts’s article “Law Schools Without AI Training Fail Next Generation of Lawyers”
Over the last few years, the legal profession has shifted from skepticism about artificial intelligence to large-scale adoption. Yet the single most influential legal technology of our lifetime remains absent from many law school curricula. This isn’t just a missed opportunity. It’s a failure to educate.
For some legal tasks, including research and drafting, AI tools already can outperform attorneys. But the tools aren’t perfect. Since 2023, courts have been inundated with more than 280 instances of “hallucinated” AI-citation filings. One lawyer was sanctioned after filing fake citations in Wyoming federal court, admitting that it was the first time that he “ever used AI for queries of this nature” and had just “come to learn the term ‘AI hallucinations.’”
Law students are trained to use traditional research tools such as Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and Westlaw, because the profession demands it. But the absence of specific AI training may leave the next generation of lawyers underprepared—risking ethical missteps, malpractice, and diminished client services.
