Overview
- The law school announced the plan this week and will pilot a ban on phones, tablets, and laptops across all first‑year (1L) sections in the 2026–2027 academic year, with limited exceptions for disability accommodations and designated classroom scribes.
- The device prohibition is one element of a three‑part AI strategy that also seeks to create AI‑resilient teaching and testing methods and to offer upper‑level courses on practical, ethical AI use in lawyering and tool development.
- Legal Research and Writing classes will require students to write without AI while allowing AI for research, revision, and oral‑argument prep, with faculty review of both final writing and reported AI use.
- Faculty retain discretion to permit devices for specific in‑class activities such as polling or note‑taking by appointed students, and the school says the pilot will be reviewed and revised as technology and practice evolve.
- The move joins a wider wave of law school responses to generative AI that balance preserving core skills like critical thinking and cold calling with the reality that law firms increasingly expect graduates to use AI tools responsibly.