The University of Chicago Law School will prohibit most electronic devices in required first-year classes, administer examinations without internet access, and introduce a new legal writing structure during the 2026-27 academic year under a pilot artificial intelligence (AI) strategy announced July 9.
The school will pilot consistent classroom and assessment rules across all sections of its required first-year courses, including civil procedure, contracts, constitutional law, criminal law, property, statutory interpretation, torts, and transactional lawyering, according to an AI strategy statement.
Students generally will not be allowed to use laptops, tablets, or phones during those classes. Limited exceptions will cover disability accommodations, faculty-approved technology activities, and designated student scribes who use devices to take notes for the class. The school said it will also continue emphasizing the Socratic method to promote active participation and independent reasoning.
The rules form part of a broader strategy built around three priorities: developing AI-resilient teaching and assessment, strengthening human skills that remain central to legal work, and teaching students to use AI responsibly, effectively, and ethically, the law school said.
“We need to ensure that our students actually learn to think critically, strategically, and independently without relying on AI; but we also must face the reality that AI tools are already widely available to our students, and our graduates will be expected to be prepared to use them in legal practice,” the school said.
In the law school’s first-year legal research and writing program, students will learn to write both with and without AI. Students will complete some writing independently while also using AI for research, revisions, draft development, and preparation for oral arguments. Students and instructors will jointly review the writing and how AI contributed to the work.
Faculty teaching elective courses will have greater flexibility. No-device classrooms and closed-access examinations will serve as default policies rather than requirements, and instructors will be encouraged to test teaching methods such as oral presentations, group projects, peer feedback, custom chatbots, and AI-generated practice questions.
Upper-level courses expand AI use
Beyond the first year, the school plans to expand courses focused on AI and its use in legal work. In addition, students completing the substantial research paper required for a Juris Doctor degree must participate in an in-person discussion with the supervising professor. The discussion will require students to answer questions about their reasoning and the implications of their arguments. The requirement is designed to verify students’ understanding and aims to prepare students to explain and defend ideas in professional settings, according to the AI strategy statement.
The law school is also acquiring general-purpose and specialized AI tools for its clinics, including products designed for transactional law, immigration work, and litigation discovery. Each clinic is developing policies tailored to its practice area to reduce the risk of AI-generated errors in court filings and other work products.
The strategy follows several years of AI-related work at the school. It formed an AI committee in early 2023, added an AI module to its first-year research and writing program, introduced upper-level AI courses, founded an AI lab focused on improving access to justice, and secured AI tool licenses for students, faculty, and staff.
The new policies will be regularly reviewed with input from the university’s faculty, students, and alumni, according to the strategy statement.
“No statement of an AI strategy or vision can be final,” the school said. “Technology is changing too fast.”
