A New Era for Legal Training
Columbia Law School has unveiled a comprehensive new initiative designed to integrate artificial intelligence into every aspect of legal education, marking one of the most significant curricular shifts at a major U.S. law school in recent years.
The initiatiegave, dubbed AI @ CLS, consolidates existing efforts to incorporate AI into the school’s curriculum and resources while introducing new faculty, courses, and professional-grade AI tools for students. The program is supported by a five-year partnership with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, one of the world’s leading global law firms.
“For years, we have shown that legal excellence is essential, but it is no longer enough,” said Daniel Abebe, Dean of Columbia Law School and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, in announcing the initiative. “AI presents an extraordinary opportunity to bridge our proud tradition of rigorous, theoretical education with the realities of modern legal practice.”
Key Highlights:
- AI @ CLS Launched — Columbia Law School unveiled a comprehensive AI initiative, backed by a five-year partnership with Paul, Weiss.
- New Course & First-Year AI Literacy — New elective Law & AI plus AI modules in the required Legal Practice Workshop for first-year J.D. students.
- Professional AI Tools — Students get access to Harvey (legal research) and Legora (workflow automation).
- Intellectual Independence — Professor Gillis: “The biggest risk is when you substitute that judgment and that intellectual ownership to AI.”
- Paul, Weiss Scholar — Elliott Ash joins as inaugural Paul, Weiss Distinguished AI Scholar in Residence.
The Task Force Behind the Initiative
The announcement comes a year after the Law School established a task force on AI to evaluate how the institution should adapt its educational approach. Talia Gillis, co-chair of the task force and Daniel G. Ross Professor of Law, explained that the group worked extensively to incorporate perspectives from students, faculty, and legal professionals.
“We were very interested in hearing from law firms and lawyers in the public sector and public-interest sector about how they were encountering AI,” Gillis said. The task force focused particularly on understanding how the technology was impacting junior lawyers, ensuring the school could implement effective and relevant initiatives.
What the Initiative Includes
1. New Course: Law & AI
The Law School has announced a new upper-level elective, Law & AI, taught by Professors Gillis and Eric Talley. The course is designed to explore the interaction between artificial intelligence and the legal field, fostering critical engagement rather than dogmatic opinions.
“We wanted to foster an environment in which there weren’t these a priori, dogmatic opinions about AI being good or bad, but really learning the technology, understanding it, thinking through its limitations, and being critical in that respect,” Gillis explained.
2. AI Literacy in First-Year Curriculum
AI literacy efforts are being incorporated into the Legal Practice Workshop, a required course for first-year J.D. students. Professors Rebecca Wexler and Gillis are designing new AI modules that other professors can incorporate into their courses, ensuring that every student gains foundational knowledge of AI tools and their implications.
3. Professional AI Platforms for Students
As part of the initiative, Columbia Law School is making two professional AI platforms available to students:
- Harvey: An AI-powered legal research and document creation tool used by leading law firms.
- Legora: A workflow automation platform designed for legal professionals.
These tools will assist students with legal research, document creation, and workflow automation—skills that are increasingly expected of new lawyers entering the profession.
4. Paul, Weiss Distinguished AI Scholar in Residence
Elliott Ash, Law ’10, GSAS ’16, an associate professor at ETH Zurich, will join the faculty as the inaugural Paul, Weiss Distinguished AI Scholar in Residence. The five-year commitment from Paul, Weiss will also support the development of new curricular offerings, expansion of faculty research, and programming that brings legal professionals to campus.
“We are proud to partner with Columbia Law to help empower the next generation of lawyers to be in a position to use AI effectively, creatively, and responsibly after they graduate,” said Scott Barshay, Chairman of Paul, Weiss and a Columbia Law alumnus.
Student Perspectives: Mixed but Supportive
Law students interviewed by the Columbia Spectator expressed a diversity of opinions about AI, but largely agreed that the school should implement changes to keep pace with technological advances.
Jayden Lee, Law ’27, noted that he had encountered AI extensively during his summer associate position at a law firm—far more than in his courses. “For most of my assignments, I was instructed to use AI software like Harvey, and there are other AI tools made by the law firm itself,” Lee said.
Gustavo Chamadoiro, Law ’27, a Master of Laws student, observed that AI policies vary drastically across courses. “In one of my courses, AI was strictly prohibited,” he said. “On the other hand, in Legal Research and Writing, the professor allows us to use AI even to correct our writing and to generate our writing.”
Rachel Krul, Law ’28, expressed concern about the pace of change: “Honestly, it’s happening so quickly that a lot of our professors aren’t even prepared to prepare us for how fast things are changing.”
Maintaining Intellectual Independence
A core goal of the initiative, according to Gillis, is to maintain intellectual independence and preserve students’ ability to think freely without falling out of touch with the technology.
“The idea is that you always maintain that kind of intellectual ownership and your own judgment over anything you do,” Gillis explained. “And the biggest risk is when you substitute that judgment and that intellectual ownership to AI.”
The Law School’s 2026-27 AI policy gives professors broad latitude to use AI in their courses to whatever extent they prefer, reflecting the institution’s commitment to pedagogical control and academic freedom.
The Broader Implications for Legal Education
Columbia’s initiative reflects a growing recognition among law schools that AI literacy is no longer optional for future lawyers. As law firms increasingly adopt AI tools for document review, legal research, contract analysis, and workflow automation, the skills demanded of new associates are rapidly evolving.
The partnership with Paul, Weiss is particularly notable. The firm, like Columbia, reached a controversial deal with the Trump administration in 2025, agreeing to provide more than $40 million in pro bono legal services to the federal government and end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Despite the controversy, the partnership signals a strong commitment from the private sector to shaping the next generation of legal professionals.
