Teaching Students to Think Like Lawyers in the Age of AI New required course gives W&L Law students the knowledge and judgment to use artificial intelligence responsibly from the first day of law school.

By Law Communications
August 12, 2026

Before they read their first case or step into their first doctrinal classroom, every incoming student at Washington and Lee University School of Law will confront one of the most important questions facing the legal profession today: How can lawyers embrace artificial intelligence without compromising the judgment, critical thinking, and analytical reasoning at the heart of legal practice?

To answer that question, the law school has introduced AI for Legal Practice, a required one-credit course that prepares every first-year student to understand, evaluate, and responsibly use artificial intelligence before the academic year begins. Taught by professors Josh Fairfield and Nate Reynolds ‘22L, the course combines foundational instruction in AI technology with practical exercises designed to help students develop sound professional habits that will serve them throughout law school and their legal careers.

Fairfield is the William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law and Director of Artificial Intelligence Legal Innovation Strategy at W&L and is an expert of the impact of emerging technology on legal practice. Fairfield says teaching students when to use AI is just as important as how.

“Lawyers are in a unique position. We must be able to use the new tools AI offers competently and ethically, and we must verify that everything it provides is correct,” said Fairfield. “If AI hallucinates, it’s our license on the line.”

Students begin the course before arriving on campus by completing two hours of recorded instruction focused on two complementary themes: cognitive security and AI fundamentals. Cognitive security explores how students can protect their own ability to think, analyze, and learn as AI becomes an increasingly common part of legal work. AI fundamentals introduces students to how large language models function, what artificial intelligence can and cannot do, and how to use AI effectively through Harvey, the legal AI platform students will use throughout the course and beyond.

During orientation, students spend six additional hours in interactive classroom sessions that build on the pre-course instruction, exploring why AI produces the responses it does, when those responses can be trusted, and when they require careful verification. They learn how AI systems generate text, why hallucinations occur, how retrieval-based legal research differs from general-purpose AI, and why context and source verification are essential to responsible legal practice.

Nate Reynolds, a 2022 graduate of the law school and a litigation and intellectual property associate at the firm Cleary Gottlieb, has explored how AI impacts the discovery process and other aspects of the practice. He says this course will help prepare students for the reality of modern legal practice.

“AI is everywhere right now, and people are excited about finding new ways to deploy it in practice,” said Reynolds. “The expectations are shifting, and students should be prepared to use AI safely and effectively.”

The course concludes by turning from how AI works to how lawyers should use it. Through readings, demonstrations and collaborative exercises, students examine the circumstances in which AI can enhance legal work, when independent analysis remains indispensable, and how overreliance on technology can undermine learning and professional judgment. Students leave with practical strategies for using AI as a tool that supports—not replaces—the habits of mind that legal education is designed to cultivate.