Designed for deans, faculty, and administrators, the AALS/West Academic AI in Legal Education Webinar Series will offer practical insights and foster dialogue on the challenges and opportunities that AI presents. The series will feature leading experts from law schools and the legal profession on several topics including: approaches to integrating AI into curriculum; emerging tools; risks and limitations of AI; promoting professional readiness; and ethics, regulation, and policy.

The series is part of a multiyear partnership between AALS and West Academic aimed at deepening the legal academy’s engagement with artificial intelligence (AI).

Weigh-in on the topics you would like to see as part of this series!

Next Webinar

Becoming a Lawyer in the Age of Generative AI

Wednesday, October 21, 2026
12:30-1:30 pm Eastern/9:30-10:30 am Pacific

Legal tech, including generative AI, is changing how law is practiced. This panel looks past the technical skills students need at graduation and asks a harder question: what does it mean to be a lawyer now? As routine tasks increasingly shift to machines, other competencies matter more for our students, including skepticism, discernment, judgment, emotional intelligence, resilience, and the practical wisdom that comes from experience. Those qualities are harder to teach and assess than technical skills.

Professional identity formation gives law schools an organizing theme for that work, one faculty can use across every law school course. This panel brings together experts from different backgrounds to examine hard questions facing legal education and the practice of law. What competencies will students need to navigate an uncertain legal services landscape? What instincts and habits of mind will help them more effectively do the work of junior attorneys as legal tech evolves? And how do those of us in legal education draw on the perspectives and experience of practicing attorneys to close the distance between what school teaches and what practice demands?

The panel will offer concrete ideas for the classroom, from what to teach to how to assess it. It will also press on a bigger question behind that work: how to equip students with a mindset committed to continuous professional development and flexibility after graduation, one that will serve them long after any particular tool becomes outdated. Attendees will leave with practical tools and a sharper sense of how we can all better navigate what’s ahead.

Moderator

Speakers

Past Webinars

Preparing Law Schools, Faculty, & Students for an AI-Driven Future

September 9, 2026

This program featured law school leaders and innovators to explore how institutions are adapting as AI transforms legal practice. Panelists examined institutional strategies, admissions, faculty development, and curricular innovation, highlighting the steps schools are taking to prepare students for success in a profession increasingly embracing AI. Deans, faculty, and administrators will leave with practical ideas and strategies they can apply at their own institutions.

Moderator

Speakers

---

Law School AI Policies: Frameworks, Guardrails, and Guidance

May 6, 2026

As artificial intelligence rapidly changes the landscape of legal education and the legal profession, law faculty and administrators are grappling with how to guide students toward responsible and effective use of these tools—both throughout their legal education and into their careers. This session brings together panelists to explore the questions law schools are wrestling with as they consider what today’s students need to know to prepare for an AI-enabled practice environment.

Discussion touched on themes such as how to encourage exploration without undermining foundational skills, what it looks like to help students understand both the capabilities and limitations of generative AI, and how institutions navigate the interplay between school-wide frameworks and classroom-level policies—recognizing that many law schools leave much of this decision-making to individual faculty. Panelists shared perspectives drawn from their own institutional contexts and ongoing work in this space.

Whether your institution is drafting its first AI policy, revisiting an existing approach, or thinking through how to support faculty making these calls course-by-course, this conversation was designed to surface useful framings and open questions for administrators and faculty alike.

Moderator

Speakers

---

AI Tools for Law Faculty

April 15, 2026

How can artificial intelligence streamline course preparation, enrich classroom engagement, and support student learning? This webinar brought together experienced legal educators who shared practical strategies for using AI to support law teaching. Viewers will learn how AI can assist with day-to-day teaching tasks such as generating hypos, refining rubrics, organizing course materials and presentations, and designing formative assessments, as well as how to evaluate AI outputs with a critical, professional lens.

The session will also highlighted a range of tools that can help faculty work more efficiently and creatively. Presenters discussed the strengths and limitations of different platforms, demonstrated sample workflows, and offered guidance on maintaining academic integrity and transparency when using AI. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas, recommended tools, and a clearer sense of how AI can support law teaching and class preparation.

Moderator

Speakers

---

Developing AI Literacy in Law Students

March 9, 2026

Presentations:

Teaching at the Speed Of AI: Tested Strategies for Integrating AI into the Law Skills Classroom (PDF)
Caitlain Devereaux Lewis (Albany Law School)

What We Learned and What Might Work for You: Building AI Literacy into Legal Writing at USF Law (PDF)
Nicole Phillips (University of San Francisco School of Law)

Developing AI Literacy Through Structured Certificate Programs (PDF)
April G. Dawson (North Carolina Central University School of Law)

Session Description

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes legal practice, law schools are experimenting with a wide range of approaches to help students build the skills and judgment they’ll need in an AI‑infused profession. This inaugural session in the AALS–West Academic webinar series offers a landscape view of how legal educators across the country are developing AI literacy in thoughtful, practical, and innovative ways.

The panel will highlight several emerging models, including:

• Incorporating AI tools into foundational lawyering courses to strengthen research, writing, and analytical skills;
• Expanding legal writing, clinical, and doctrinal curricula with learning outcomes tied to professional responsibility, evidence, and the ethical use of AI;
• Embedding AI literacy into clinical settings through hands‑on experimentation and problem‑solving in law school–based AI labs; and,
• Developing certificate programs that provide structured pathways for students to engage more deeply with AI technologies and their implications for legal practice.

Following these brief presentations, the discussion will turn to concrete recommendations for getting started. Many faculty and administrators feel overwhelmed by the scale and speed of change in this area. This session aims to counter that sense of uncertainty by showcasing the diverse, achievable, and exciting ways law schools are engaging with AI. Participants will come away with practical entry points, inspiration from peer institutions, and a clearer sense of how to begin building AI literacy in their own programs.

Moderator

Speakers

---