GENERATIVE AI IN PRACTICE: LAW, POLICY AND GOVERNANCE
(LAWP-1020) - 3 UNITS

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is rapidly transforming legal practice, legal institutions, and the broader regulatory landscape. This course provides a comprehensive examination of GAI through the integrated lenses of law, policy, governance, and legal practice. Moving beyond introductory exposure, students will develop a rigorous understanding of the legal frameworks, regulatory approaches, and institutional governance structures that shape the development and use of generative AI in the legal profession and beyond.

Students will study how GAI systems function at a conceptual level and analyze their application across a range of legal contexts, including research, drafting, advocacy, discovery, and decision-making. The course will examine existing and emerging legal doctrines and regulatory regimes relevant to GAI, including professional responsibility, confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, evidentiary reliability, and liability. Students will also engage with governance models at multiple levels, including courts, law firms, administrative agencies, and private platforms - and evaluate how these institutions are responding to the opportunities and risks posed by generative AI.

In addition to doctrinal and policy analysis, the course emphasizes applied lawyering skills. Through hands-on exercises, simulations, and written work, students will learn to use GAI tools strategically and effectively, in compliance with governing legal and ethical standards. The course also explores future-facing questions, including how evolving legal frameworks and regulatory choices may shape the role of AI in legal practice and the justice system. By the end of the course, students will be equipped not only to use generative AI tools but to critically assess, regulate, and responsibly integrate them within professional and institutional settings.

Pass/Fail:
No

Prerequisites:
None