Legal Education Commons^™

Turning Risks Of Cheating With Ai Into Opportunities For Better Teaching, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

Many law school faculty are concerned that students may misuse artificial intelligence (AI) tools to undermine their learning and violate academic integrity policies.  Although some students will inevitably cheat, faculty can reduce the risk – and improve student learning – by rethinking assignment design and classroom communication.

This article frames the risk of AI-related cheating as an opportunity for pedagogical improvement.  It offers practical strategies to help faculty design assignments that enhance student learning, promote good decision-making, discourage inappropriate AI use, and foster responsible AI literacy.  It outlines approaches consistent with the ABA’s new requirement for formative assessment throughout the …

My Negotiation Chatbot Toby And Pedagogical Governance, Renee Henson

Faculty Publications

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots is exploding. Adolescents increasingly prefer interactions with AI companions over peers. Adults rely on these systems for health planning, therapy, administrative assistance, nutrition guidance, and even simulated “romantic relationships.” Individuals and institutions are adopting AI tools at a pace that far exceeds the development of governance frameworks.

I developed Toby for use in my first-year Lawyering: Problem-Solving and Dispute Resolution (“Lawyering”) course to expose students to the dynamics of negotiating against an opposing counsel with a difficult personality—a type of adversary all too common in legal practice, yet difficult to prepare for. Toby …

De-Skilling Or Re-Skilling? The Case For Smarter Writing Assignments, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article challenges the assumption that AI inevitably leads to the de-skilling of law students.  Some faculty understandably fear that students will use AI to bypass critical thinking and avoid meaningful effort.  This article reframes AI as a potential catalyst for improving legal education rather than inherently a threat.

Concerns about de-skilling generally are based on the assumption that faculty will not change traditional writing assignments.  This article analyzes why these assignments often fail to help students develop strong analytical and writing skills. These include limited instruction in basic writing skills, poor design, lack of feedback, and faculty inertia in …

Solving Professors' Dilemmas About Prohibiting Or Promoting Student Ai Use, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Faculty face difficult dilemmas as law students increasingly use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT.  Should faculty prohibit student use of AI in course work, allow it within limits, or actively encourage it to build professional skills?  Because students already use AI tools, faculty must respond.  Doing nothing can undermine core educational goals.

This article offers practical strategies for addressing these dilemmas.  These strategies are designed to promote learning, uphold academic integrity, and prepare students for an evolving legal profession.  This article outlines two broad approaches:  restricting unauthorized AI use and promoting responsible, supervised use.  It provides concrete suggestions …

Teaching With Ai: Insights From A Faculty Focus Group, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This report summarizes insights from a focus group of law faculty who discussed their experiences and perspectives about using artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education.  The focus group took place at the 2025 Works-in-Progress Conference sponsored by the ADR Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

The responses reflect a range of reactions, providing a snapshot of how some faculty are experimenting with AI, evaluating its risks and benefits, and considering how best to achieve their pedagogical goals.  Participants expressed interest in using AI as a teaching tool – particularly in communication exercises, simulations, and written assignments – and …

Teaching Students To Write Well With Ai (Even If You're Still Learning It): A Guide For Faculty Who Want To Teach - Not Play Detective, John Lande

Faculty Publications

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools rapidly enter legal education, faculty need practical ways to guide student writing and promote academic integrity.  This one-page guide offers concrete strategies to help faculty teach students to think and write more effectively with AI tools.  As students increasingly use AI on their own, faculty face two related challenges:  preventing misuse and promoting deeper learning.

This guide frames the instructor’s role not as a detective, but as a coach who helps students use AI responsibly.  It outlines techniques to clarify expectations, promote good writing, and foster critical engagement with AI.  Adapted from the short …

Did Your Student Or A Bot Write This Paper?: Teaching And Grading In The Age Of Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting traditional assumptions about law students’ authorship of their written assignments.  Faculty are concerned about their ability to tell whether students are writing their own papers or simply using AI tools like ChatGPT.  This article offers practical strategies for addressing this problem, focusing on teaching and grading practices that promote transparency, accountability, and learning.

It recommends that faculty require students to include AI use certification cover sheets with their papers, disclosing whether and how they used AI tools during the writing process.  The article also explains how faculty can shift from purely summative to use …

Faculty Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Teaching, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This report presents findings from a 2025 survey of U.S. law faculty about their own use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and how their students use them as well.  Most respondents reported using AI at least occasionally for teaching-related purposes, and many estimated that a majority of their students used it in their courses.

Faculty identified benefits such as time savings, idea generation, and improved clarity. They also reported significant concerns about students’ over-reliance on AI, as well as the unreliability of its outputs.

Most faculty had revised assignments and assessment practices and provided guidance to …

A Video Guide For Teaching Law Students To Use Ai Wisely, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article introduces a video that provides practical guidance about using artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education.  It presents a basic introduction to AI and describes how law students and faculty can benefit from tools like ChatGPT.  Because many students already use AI on their own, the video emphasizes the need to teach them how to use it wisely and responsibly.  The video also includes demonstrations showing how faculty can use AI to develop new simulations and how students can use it to prepare for them.  This article provides links to the video, PowerPoint slides, the chat transcript, and related …

Teaching With Ai - And Teaching Students To Use It Well, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article argues that the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal practice creates an opportunity-and need-for legal educators to rethink and improve their courses. While some faculty fear that AI will erode students' skills or encourage academic dishonesty, thoughtful use of AI tools in legal education actually can promote deeper learning, improve student writing, and reveal how students actually think. The article distinguishes between summative and formative assessment and explains how AI can produce meaningful formative feedback. It offers specific examples of AI-based assignments that can help students build core professional skills, and it highlights the importance of …

Facing Faculty Fears About Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This essay addresses a widespread but rarely voiced concern among faculty: the fear of appearing uninformed, unprepared, or even outmatched by students when incorporating AI into their teaching. While worries about cheating, hallucinations, de-skilling, and loss of control are legitimate, this essay encourages faculty to shift from fear to curiosity. It argues that acknowledging uncertainty can strengthen faculty–student relationships and model the curiosity and humility we hope to cultivate in students.

It outlines two general strategies for faculty: restricting AI use when students need to build foundational skills, and requiring it when students are ready to develop professional judgment using …

Getting Help From Ai To Update Your Syllabus (Even If You Think It's Just Fine), John Lande

Faculty Publications

Law school faculty often reuse the same syllabi from year to year, assuming that if a course "isn't broken," it doesn't need fixing. But with the upcoming NextGen Bar Exam, new lawyer licensing regimes, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, the context for teaching dispute resolution is changing rapidly.

This short article encourages faculty to reflect on their syllabi and consider how generative AI tools can support thoughtful, efficient updates. It offers practical strategies for adapting to bar exam and licensing developments, incorporating AI skills into courses, integrating representation and neutral perspectives, and redesigning assignments to …

Using Ai To Promote Student Learning Through Preparation For And Reflection About Simulations, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article provides model language for a course assignment in which students use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to prepare for and reflect on simulations. The assignment promotes deep learning and supports formative assessment by helping faculty see how students think, make choices, and develop insights. Students upload the simulation materials and the assignment to an AI tool, use it to plan for the simulation, and return to the same chat afterward to reflect. They then ask the AI to generate a draft paper, which they revise using the Track Changes feature in Word. Faculty can use the same feature to …

Responsible Realism About Artificial Intelligence: How Ai Is Shaping Legal And Dispute Resolution Practice, Education, And Scholarship, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article synthesizes the views of legal scholars examining how generative artificial intelligence (AI) is affecting legal and dispute resolution practice, education, and scholarship. They share a perspective of responsible realism – recognizing both the promise and the perils of AI. It is already reshaping how lawyers, neutrals, educators, students, and scholars work – and its influence will only grow.

The scholars identify clear benefits: broader access, greater efficiency, and new support for professional learning. They also warn of serious risks, including bias, deskilling, and erosion of judgment. Avoiding both hype and panic, they analyze developments, offer realistic strategies, and …

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bot: What I Learned About Ai And What You Can Too, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools play an increasingly prominent role in legal education, legal practice, and dispute resolution. People’s understanding of how these tools work varies widely. This article outlines a framework to improve AI literacy among dispute resolution practitioners, parties, ADR program managers, faculty, students, and scholars. It highlights emerging trends and offers practical suggestions and resources to support AI literacy and the responsible integration of AI into their work. A companion article, Getting the Most from AI Tools: A Practical Guide to Writing Effective Prompts, helps users, especially those in dispute resolution roles, learn how to write effective …

Rps Coach Project: A Growing Library About A Valuable Ai Tool, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This document collects a growing library of publications, videos, and podcasts about the RPS Negotiation and Mediation Coach (RPS Coach), an AI tool grounded in Real Practice Systems (RPS) Theory. RPS Coach is designed to support mediators, lawyers, parties, educators, students, and scholars by promoting good decision-making and reflective practice in negotiation and mediation. This piece summarizes articles and blog posts that present the theory, knowledge base, and functions of RPS Coach, along with practical guidance for its use in dispute resolution, writing, and legal education. It includes links to each publication and will be updated as new work is …

The Artificially Intelligent Rps Negotiation And Mediation Coach, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This document describes the artificially intelligent RPS Negotiation and Mediation Coach (“RPS Coach”) tool, which is an outgrowth of the Real Practice Systems (RPS) Project. It is designed to help many different users perform numerous tasks including (1) attorneys anticipating challenges, strategizing, and representing clients, (2) mediators enhancing preparation, communication, and decision-making, (3) disputing parties making better decisions, (4) ADR program administrators developing clear rules, policies, and materials, (5) educators and trainers teaching practical theory and skills, and (6) students and trainees learning practical theory and skills.

RPS theory and practice is designed to help attorneys and mediators help their …

A Practical Guide For Using The Rps Negotiation And Mediation Coach, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This two-page guide introduces the RPS Negotiation and Mediation Coach, an AI-powered tool grounded in Real Practice Systems (RPS) theory. It explains who can use RPS Coach, how it supports good decision-making, and the range of tasks it can perform. It is designed for attorneys, mediators, parties, ADR program administrators, educators, and students to improve the quality of dispute resolution practice, program design, and legal education. Practitioners and parties can use it to prepare for, participate in, and reflect on negotiation and mediation. Faculty can use it to develop syllabi, assignments, and simulations. Users can explore ideas, generate drafts, and …

How Can You Turn Adversarial Attorneys Into Quasi-Mediators?, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article grows out of an educational program sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of the Association of Attorney-Mediators, which functioned as a focus group. It describes mediators’ experiences with attorneys in mediation who were cooperative and adversarial.

It describes things that mediators can do to make adversarial attorneys behave as “quasi-mediators.” Attorneys acting as quasi-mediators help their clients realistically understand the other side’s perspectives. The attorneys also promote their clients’ interests by enlisting the mediators’ help and encouraging the other side to adjust their positions. Attorneys who sometimes act as quasi-mediators tailor their techniques to their clients’ preferences and …

How Attorneys Can Be Quasi-Mediators, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This distills insights from a forthcoming article, How Can You Turn Adversarial Attorneys into Quasi-Mediators? The article is a Theory Meets Practice column in CPR’s Alternatives magazine that summarizes a discussion with members of the Association of Attorney-Mediators.

Attorneys acting as quasi-mediators prefer to be cooperative and use mediation techniques but they aren’t neutral. They tailor their actions based on their clients’ preferences and the other side’s approach. Another term for quasi-mediators is “good lawyers.”

Based on the forthcoming article and the Real Practice Systems Project Menu of Mediation Checklists, this two-page article lists things that mediators can do to …

Creating Educational Value By Teaching Law Students To Be Quasi-Mediators, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Most mediation courses currently focus primarily on mediators’ perspectives and interventions during mediation sessions. Under the traditional view, mediators are the intervenors, and the parties, attorneys, and other participants in mediation sessions are the intervenees.

This article argues that mediation courses should provide balanced instruction of the roles of both mediators and attorneys by teaching students how to function as “quasi-mediators” when representing clients in mediation. As quasi-mediators, attorneys look for opportunities to reach reasonable agreements whenever appropriate, and they use mediation techniques to move the process in that direction. But they do not surrender their loyalty to their clients …

Law Schools Should Substantially Increase Instruction In Mediation Representation, John Lande

Faculty Publications

American law schools generally focus 10% or less of their mediation curriculum on mediation representation. As shown in a survey of faculty teaching mediation and an analysis of course syllabi in this article, most of the instruction focuses on the role of a mediator.

This is a problem for several reasons. New graduates represent clients in mediation much more frequently than they mediate. Clients usually need professional advice to evaluate their cases and develop strategies, which mediators cannot provide. This is precisely the important service that attorneys can provide, but we teach students very little about what to do when …

Theory And Practice Of Mediation Representation, John Lande

Faculty Publications

These days, American attorneys regularly represent clients in mediation. This representation is a complex process, and attorneys and law students need guidance about how to serve clients well in this context. This article offers a theoretical framework for analyzing mediation representation based on Real Practice System Theory. It reviews books that outline elements of mediation representation and identify practical techniques that attorneys can use when representing clients in mediation. It supplies several suggestions for faculty who teach mediation, including teaching courses combining the perspectives of both mediators and mediation representatives.

The Important Role Of Attorneys In Promoting Parties' Self-Determination In Mediation, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This short article analyzes the meaning of self-determination, and it demonstrates that attorneys generally have much greater ability than mediators to promote parties’ self-determination. I argue that “self-determination” is an admirable but unattainable ideal.

Instead, attorneys and mediators should focus on promoting parties’ best possible decision-making under the circumstances. To optimally promote the quality of parties’ decision-making during mediation sessions, they must be well-prepared before mediation sessions. At that stage, attorneys are in the best position to counsel clients, when they have more time to carefully consider their situation and they are not under pressure to respond to the …

The Case For Mediation Representation Clinics And Externships, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article recommends that law schools offer mediation representation clinics and externship courses to assist self-represented litigants in cases with legally-represented parties. These courses would prepare law students to practice in the modern world. Students would get experience working with real clients, conduct interviews, help clients assess their goals and interests, analyze claims, perform legal research, prepare documents, coordinate with mediators, and negotiate with counterpart attorneys.

The courses would address the needs of multiple stakeholders including self-represented litigants, law students, law schools, courts, attorneys, mediators, and society in general. Law schools would develop these courses in collaboration with many potential …

Modern Mediation Practice In American Legal Cases, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article provides excerpts of It's Time to Make Important Upgrades to Our Mediation Curriculum. It notes significant changes in mediation practice in the past five decades and highlights the nature of modern mediation practice in American legal cases. It suggests that law school faculty upgrade of our mediation instruction to reflect the realities of modern practice.

A Tribute To Professor Marjorie Corman Aaron Upon Her Retirement, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Addressing Asian (In)Visiblity In The Academy, Shruti Rana, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Faculty Publications

To be Asian American in the legal academy is to be caught between a paradox and a dichotomy, with both marked by silencing and erasure. The paradox exists within the term "Asian American" itself, as "'Asian' and 'American' have historically been posed as antithetical" identities in U.S. history and jurisprudence. On one side is a representation of unassimilable perpetual foreignness with Asian bodies targeted for violence and unequal protection of the law often justified by their perceived threat to national security. On the other is the lure of assimilation, where the model minority myth offers a purported path into acceptance …

Public Schools To Public Services, Laura Wilcoxon

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Can Mindfulness Help Law Students With Stress, Focus, And Well-Being: An Empirical Study Of 1ls At A Midwestern Law School, Richard C. Reuben, Kennon M. Sheldon

Faculty Publications

Recent calls for law students, lawyers, judges, and others in the legal profession to try mindfulness training to reduce stress and enhance wellbeing beg the question of whether mindfulness will "work" for those in the uniquely rigorous environment of law. There is no empirical research on mindfulness effects for lawyers - unlike the medical field, where research has found beneficial effects of mindfulness training for doctors, nurses, and other health care providers. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted an empirical study of forty-seven first year, first semester law students at the University of Missouri School of Law …