An Empirical Examination of Law Student Attitudes Toward Legal Writing with Generative AI

Authors

• Abigail L. Perdue, Wake Forest University School of LawFollow

Abstract

Amid mounting predictions that generative artificial intelligence (AI) will substantially disrupt legal education, legal writing professors grapple with how and when to integrate generative AI into the classroom. While some believe that it should be woven into existing courses and integrated across the curriculum, even in the first year, others contend that it is better reserved for discussion in upper-level courses dedicated to AI-assistance. Yet it remains unclear which approach will best prepare graduates for the modern practice of law. Indeed, some scholars caution that permitting law students to use generative AI to complete their legal writing coursework, particularly in the first year, could impede learning, stifle self-reliance, thwart the development of foundational skills, and undermine the formation of professional identity. To explore these competing viewpoints and determine the best path forward, the Author conducted an empirical study of law students who were permitted to use generative AI to complete coursework in an advanced legal writing course and then situated the data in the context of other available research on AI integration. Taken together, the research paints a complex portrait of AI-assisted lawyering that raises broader questions about the future of legal writing pedagogy and supports the ultimate conclusion that generative AI is perhaps best addressed in upper-level legal writing courses for which AI literacy is the primary learning objective.

Recommended Citation

Abigail L. Perdue, An Empirical Examination of Law Student Attitudes Toward Legal Writing with Generative AI, 29 SMU Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 3 (2026)