Legal Profession Commons^™

Prompt Engineering For Lawyers: We Will Add Your Distinctiveness To Our Own: Iterative Refinement And Prompt Chaining, Cliff Mckinney

Arkansas Law Notes

In the last edition, we explored two advanced prompt engineering techniques, chunking and few-shot prompting. In this edition, we will examine two more useful techniques: iterative prompt refinement and prompt chaining. Iterative prompt refinement involves repeatedly rephrasing and refining questions to lead to a better response. Prompt chaining involves guiding the artificial intelligence through related multi-step reasoning.

At first glance, iterative prompt refinement and prompt chaining may seem like the same concept, but the key difference lies in their approach. Refinement improves a single prompt through repeated adjustments, whereas chaining links a series of prompts together to tackle different stages …

Prompt Engineering For Lawyers: How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes: The Chunking Technique And Few Shot Prompting, Cliff Mckinney

Arkansas Law Notes

There are many different strategies and techniques that can be applied to prompt engineering. However, there are six methods that are particularly useful for lawyers: Chunking, which involves dividing a large task into smaller, more manageable requests; Few-shot prompting, which involves giving artificial intelligence examples to guide a response; Iterative prompt refinement, which involves repeatedly rephrasing or refining questions to lead to a better response; Prompt chaining, which involves guiding the artificial intelligence through related multi-step reasoning; Flipped interaction prompting, which involves asking the artificial intelligence to ask the user questions to prompt new thoughts, like the Socratic method; and …

Prompt Engineering For Lawyers: Blue Pill Or Red Pill: Hallucinations Risks And An Introduction To Prompt Engineering, Cliff Mckinney

Arkansas Law Notes

In The Matrix, Neo’s choice between the blue pill and the red pill is essentially a choice between a comfortable illusion and an unsettling reality. Lawyers now face a similar decision with artificial intelligence. They can take the blue pill: ignore artificial intelligence or treat it like just another search engine, continuing a comfortable illusion that the new technology may not transform the practice of law. Or lawyers can take the red pill: acknowledge that artificial intelligence will transform the practice of law and learn how to use it competently, ethically, and effectively.

This Article is for those who choose …

Joint Representation Of Spouses And Romantic Partners: Ethical Considerations For Estate Planners, Elizabeth R. Carter

Arkansas Law Review

Attorneys routinely represent married couples jointly in estate planning matters. Joint representation of married couples—and, increasingly, unmarried romantic partners—is a routine practice for most estate planners. This practice was not always so widely accepted. Beginning in the 1990s, scholars, attorneys, and interest groups successfully advocated for the widespread acceptance of joint representation in estate planning. In a joint representation, the attorney represents both individuals in a collaborative form of representation where confidences and goals are shared between both clients and the attorney. Proponents of joint representation in the estate planning setting argue that it reduces costs, is more consistent with …

Advice For Incorporating Ai Tools Into Your Legal Practice, Celia Bigoness, Robert A. Mackenzie, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We have been speaking with many lawyers and law students about using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their legal practice. We are struck by the fact that many of them have not been experimenting much, if at all, with the tools that are available to them - although many acknowledge that their clients are increasingly integrating generative AI into their businesses. We have been integrating a lot of these tools into our own professional lives, and here are some tips to help lawyers and law students get comfortable with AI tools that can help them, in big ways and …

Sanctioning Lawyer-Criminals, Jon J. Lee

Washington and Lee Law Review

Until now there has been relatively little consideration given to disciplinary agencies’ sanctioning of lawyers who commit or are convicted of crimes, so called “lawyer-criminals.” This is likely because most assume that these offenders make up a tiny percentage of disciplinary cases. It also may explain why jurisdictions continue to employ disparate approaches regarding what types of criminal conduct warrant professional intervention, the appropriate sanctions to impose on lawyer-criminals, and whether lawyers convicted of certain offenses should be automatically excluded from practice.

This Article makes three primary contributions to the discourse on reforming professional lawyer regulation to protect the public …

Inexcuseable? Building An Artificial Intelligence Microexpert On Contract Excuse Doctrine, Mark Edwin Burge

Faculty Scholarship

This article details and advocates for a general methodology for creating a "microexpert" grounded in a user-defined set of legal sources and widelyaccessible tools for integrating generative artificial intelligence (AI) into legal analysis. The study focuses particularly on background contract excuse doctrines of impossibility, impracticability, and frustration of purpose, which are collectively a methodologically challenging area of law to rationalize due to factintensive variables that undermine their predictability. Particular challenges include assessing the foreseeability of the event that led to the contract's nonperformance, the extent of the hardship or burden on the party seeking excuse, and the purpose of the …

Behind The Suit: How Recovering A Biblical Worldview And Implementing Spiritual Formation Practices Can Improve The Mental Health Crisis In The Legal Profession, Makayla G. Johnson

Senior Honors Theses

A Biblical worldview is the foundation upon which the United States government and legal system is built, however in recent years the understanding of a Biblical Worldview has been in decline. This shift has had a profound impact on the legal field, causing a loss of purpose and meaning in the profession, which research asserts has in part caused many mental health issues found in the legal field. With this in mind, the following study will include information regarding the extent to which the implementation of spiritual formation practices, when practiced specifically by those in the legal profession, could impact …

Friend Or Foe? Generative Ai And Legal Writing, Peter Nemerovski

Maine Law Review

Much has been made in recent years of the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence ("Generative AI") programs in performing law-related tasks. We have learned, for example, that OpenAI's product, GPT-4, is capable of passing the Uniform Bar Exam with flying colors. ChatGPT also earned passing grades on the final exams in four different law school courses. Another study found that "AI assistance consistently induced large declines in the amount of time taken to complete tasks" like drafting complaints, contracts, and employee handbook sections. These and other success stories have led commentators to predict that Generative AI programs "will revolutionize what …

Ethics Of Artificial Intelligence For Lawyers: Standalone Resource: Model Policy And Training Program For Responsible Ai Use, Cliff Mckinney

Arkansas Law Notes

Every significant technological change in law, including computers, email, and online research, has required practical tools to implement ethically. Artificial intelligence is no different. This final installment of the artificial intelligence ethics series offers a “starter kit” for responsible adoption by law firms: a Model Law Firm Policy on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence and a Model Training Program for Legal Professionals.

With this installment, the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for Lawyers series comes full circle. We have moved from the first sanction cases, to the ABA’s initial guidance, to legislative and regulatory developments, and now to practical steps …

Law Firm Silence, Katrina Lee

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lawyers’ Career Aspirations In Canada And The United States, Meghan Dawe, Ronit Dinovitzer

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Brave New World Of Judicial Election, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election heralded the arrival of a new generation of judicial races in which state supreme courts are becoming war-torn forums for the resolution of deeply divisive policy questions that the federal courts and the other branches of government are unwilling or unable to address. It is a development that portends to be of unprecedented intensity, relative to the fractious “new politics of judicial elections” of the recent past and poses new challenges for legal theory and the existing judicial elections literature to explain. It adds new urgency to an increasingly stark choice: fight for the …

Law Library Blog (March 2026): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Professional Socialization Of Lawyers, Matthew Diller

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

All The King’S Lawyers, Rebecca Aviel

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law's Penal-Professional World Order, Pilar Margarita Hernández Escontrías

Fordham Law Review

The attorney discipline regime has been propagandized as a necessary mechanism to police poor attorney conduct to protect the public. According to this myth, professional associations investigate attorney misconduct and impose sanctions, thus protecting the “noble profession” from attorneys who would tarnish its reputation. Violations of ethics rules lead to investigation, prosecution, and punishment by the state bar. In structure and language, state bars and judicial officers replicate the state in their use of disciplinary frameworks and regimes.

The self-regulating bar is a form of punitive governance used by the state to control entry into and expulsion from the profession. …

Training To The Tech: Fostering The Ethical Adaptation To And Adoption Of Emerging Technologies In The Practice Of Law, Raymond H, Brescia

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Socializing The Rule 2.1 Lawyer-Advisor, Casey E. Faucon

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Winging It: Convergence, Convivencia, And Belonging Of Latina Lawyers, Verónica C. Gonzales

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chicana Professionalism: Embracing Greñas, Glitter & Boots, Luz E. Herrera

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Building A Professionally Socialized Immigration Bar: A Comparative Case Study, Jayanth K. Krishnan, Kunle Ajagbe

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

“No Further Discussion Necessary”: Compliance As Professionalism In Legal Education, Sarah J. Schendel

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chicana Professionalism: Embracing Greñas, Glitter & Boots, Luz E. Herrera

Faculty Scholarship

The current political moment, where immigrant identity is scapegoated and academic freedom is threatened, requires an affirmation of personal identity, a recognition of personal struggle, and a celebration of resilience. This Essay embraces the ideas that professional identity development is temporal and that the current conceptualization of professionalism requires embarking on a reflection journey that addresses the dissonance between personal conscience and professional duty.   Part I briefly revisits the work of Professor Margaret E. Montoya, one of the first Chicana law professors that describes the formation of her professional identity as a law student. It explores the status of Latinas …

The Pro Bono Industrial Complex, Tanina Rostain

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Recent settlements between corporate law firms and the Trump Administration, consisting of donations totaling nearly $1billion in free representation, have brought law firm pro bono to the fore. Pro bono has been institutionalized in corporate law firms since the turn of the 21^st century. Pro bono evangelists and corporate law firms contend that pro bono increases access to justice and protects individual rights. Scholarship on pro bono has not challenged these claims, focusing instead on managerial and organizational incentives that could increase the number of hours corporate firms devote to pro bono. Given the prominence of corporate law firm …

Rewired: Reconceptualizing Legal Services For The Ai Age, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

The legal profession is at a crossroads, caught between intensifying fears of AI-driven displacement and a generational opportunity for transformation. This Article provides a practical framework for navigating the shifting terrain.

Situating legal innovation within a multi-century arc of technological change, the Article draws on management and strategy scholarship to develop two core organizing models: the Legal Services Value Chain and the Innovation Frontier. The value chain disaggregates the lifecycle of a legal matter into five distinct nodes of activity, providing a map for subsequent analyses

Building on that foundation, the Innovation Frontier traces LegalTech’s evolution from 2000s-vintage e-discovery to …

Hiding Elephants In Mouseholes: Judicial (Mis)Application Of The Federal Arbitration Act To Attorney-Client Arbitration Agreements, Gregory L. Smith

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article criticizes cases and commentary that assume, without argument, that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and its decidedly pro-arbitration jurisprudence apply to determine the enforceability of private attorney-client arbitration agreements, thus preempting state bar rules governing disclosures that lawyers must otherwise provide to clients when proposing private, binding arbitration in place of bar-sponsored arbitration regimes. The author argues that applying the FAA and its jurisprudence to attorney-client arbitration agreements raises significant constitutional issues regarding the states’ recognized authority to regulate the legal profession—an issue that courts and commentators have simply ignored.

Outbound Investment Restrictions And International Law’S Challenge, Harlan Grant Cohen

Seattle University Law Review

The Outbound Investment Rule, restricting U.S. investment in certain Chinese advanced technology sectors, has largely been portrayed as an incremental measure, a modest extension to fill loopholes in the existing investment screening regime. But while perhaps the logical next step in the securitization of the economy, the Outbound Investment Rule actually reflects a momentous shift in the relationship between governments and business, one playing out in the United States and around the world and worth attention. Unlike traditional investment screening, the Outbound Investment Rule operates like a sanctions regime, designed not to protect the U.S. economy, but to hamper the …

Navigating Compliance In A Geopolitical Era: The Case Of Chinese Multinationals In The United States, Ji Li

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines how Chinese multinational companies (MNCs) approach compliance in the United States amid deepening geo-political rivalry and intensified regulatory scrutiny. Drawing on original survey data, this Article maps variations in compliance structures, staffing, and governance mechanisms across Chinese firms and identifies key determinants such as industry-specific regulatory intensity, listing status, and organizational imprinting from headquarters. The analysis employs a dual institutional framework to explain how compliance systems emerge from the interplay between host-state regulatory demands and home-state institutional legacies, producing hybrid structures that blend local adaptation with headquarters-driven replication. Findings reveal that while certain compliance features—such as committee …

Volume 49 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 49 Masthead