Legal Education in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence
-
Royal Holloway, University of London
United Kingdom
Abstract
The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has created both opportunities and challenges for the field of law. While it offers efficient access to legal information, it simultaneously raises questions about the nature of legal reasoning, professional competence, and academic integrity. Large language models (LLMs)—such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot—promise unprecedented efficiency in tasks like research and drafting. Yet they struggle with the normative reasoning, ethical judgment, and contextual interpretation that are foundational to legal thought. This tension forms the central inquiry of this special volume: how can the legal profession and legal education responsibly harness GenAI’s capabilities while safeguarding the core values of authenticity, integrity, critical thinking, and professional accountability?
The articles in this special volume on Legal Education in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence address this fundamental challenge across pedagogical, empirical, and regulatory dimensions. Together, they establish theoretical and practical frameworks for ‘responsible legal augmentation’ that transform GenAI’s known limitations into resources for developing advanced human judgment.
Downloads
Author Biography
Dr Zubair Abbasi is a Lecturer in the Department of Law and Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London. His current research explores the integration of generative artificial intelligence in legal education, research, and practice. His recent publications include ‘Scaling Artificial Intelligence for Augmented Learning: Developing a Generative AI Evaluation Scale through a Case Study in Islamic Inheritance Law’ (2025) 3 Journal of Digital Islamicate Research 5-32.
