INTEGRATING AI INTO LEGAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTION
INTEGRATING AI INTO LEGAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTION
BRADLEY MYERS Interim Dean, University of North Dakota School of Law
In December 2025, the American Bar Association( ABA) Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence( AI) issued its Year 2 Report on the Impact of AI on the Practice of Law. The ABA created the task force in 2024“ to address the impact of AI on the legal profession and the practice of law, including the ethical implications; identify the potential risks of AI; and develop insights into using AI in a responsible and trustworthy manner.” In addition to its two annual reports, the task force has published a book, hosted webinars, and conducted surveys.
The Year 2 Report examines how rapidly evolving AI technologies are reshaping legal work, professional responsibilities, and the delivery of legal services. Building on the task force’ s initial findings, the report focuses on the practical, ethical, and regulatory implications of AI use by lawyers, courts, and law firms.
Key themes include the growing integration of generative AI and automated tools into legal research, drafting, e-discovery, client communication, and practice management; the need for lawyers to maintain competence in understanding AI tools and their limitations; and heightened concerns regarding confidentiality, data security, bias, accuracy, and transparency. The report also addresses how existing rules of professional conduct apply to AI-assisted practice and identifies areas where further guidance or clarification may be needed.
Overall, the Year 2 Report emphasizes that AI is not a replacement for professional judgment, but rather a tool that must be used responsibly. It calls on the legal profession, regulators, and legal educators to proactively engage with AI’ s benefits and risks to ensure ethical compliance, protect the public, and promote innovation consistent with the core values of the legal profession.
From a legal education perspective, the central question is how best to prepare new lawyers for a professional environment in which AI tools not only exist, but where understanding, effective use, and even mastery of those tools will be expected. Notably, the report devotes only two pages to AI and legal education, much of which highlights courses and opportunities available to a limited number of students.
I am pleased to report the faculty at the University of North Dakota( UND) School of Law have been at the forefront of exploring how AI is impacting legal practice and integrating that knowledge across the curriculum. Space limitations prevent a comprehensive discussion of the breadth of this work, but our faculty have collectively produced more than 25 publications on AI, ranging from bar journal guidance for practitioners to law review articles and book chapters, and have delivered more than 50 presentations at state, national, and international forums.
I want to focus here on how some of our faculty have integrated AI instruction into their courses.
Professor Carolyn Williams is a national leader in researching and teaching the use of AI in legal education, with particular emphasis on legal writing, research, and professional responsibility. Her work bridges scholarship, pedagogy, and policy, focusing on how lawyers and law students can use AI effectively, ethically, and critically.
In the classroom, Professor Williams emphasizes AI literacy rather than passive reliance on technology. In Lawyering Skills I, students learn how AI systems work, where they are reliable, and where they fail. Coursework emphasizes critical reading, verification of AI output, ethical constraints, and responsible use, with students using AI primarily for research support and editing rather than wholesale drafting. In Lawyering Skills II, she builds on this foundation by teaching students how to revise their own writing using AI, including adjusting tone and persuasiveness, while maintaining rigorous evaluation and verification practices. She is also developing a new course, Writing with AI, which will introduce advanced prompting and drafting techniques grounded in critical judgment, legal ethics, and accuracy.
Professor Nick Datzov has written extensively and is a prolific and highly sought-after speaker on AI’ s impact on legal practice, the courts, and legal education. Former Chief Justice Jon Jensen appointed him to the North Dakota Supreme Court AI Workgroup. Professor Datzov teaches the School of Law’ s AI & the Law course, which introduces students to a comprehensive range of issues at the intersection of AI and legal doctrine, including tort liability, the First Amendment, intellectual property, privacy,
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