Mississippi Law School Requires AI Training as Courts Grapple With the Tech

Mississippi College School of Law now requires all first-year students to complete a course on artificial intelligence, according to a report by Mississippi Today.

The Jackson-based college is one of the first law schools to mandate AI instruction for all students.

“The potential benefits of these new technologies as a force multiplier in the practice of law just can’t be ignored,” Mississippi College School of Law Dean John P. Anderson told Decrypt. “Whether our students plan to be litigators or transactional attorneys, their future employers will expect familiarity with these AI tools. We want the firms hiring our students to be confident that every MC Law grad is competent in AI technologies.

The requirement comes as courts confront both the potential benefits and the risks of using AI tools in legal practice. In 2024, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned that generative AI can fabricate information and lead lawyers to cite non-existent cases, raising concerns about reliability and due process in the legal system.

More recently, in February, a federal judge ruled that defendants’ conversations with AI chatbots are not protected by attorney-client privilege and can be admitted as evidence. The decision prompted law firms across the country to send notices to clients, and even amend some agreements, as law offices increasingly turn to AI tools themselves. And now law schools, too, are being forced to adapt to the new normal.

The AI course at the Mississippi College School of Law was first announced in October and requires all first-year students to complete a certification course on artificial intelligence and the law, and aims to teach students how to use the technology responsibly and verify its outputs rather than rely on it blindly.

“When used effectively, responsibly, and ethically, AI tools can help solo practitioners or small firms go toe-to-toe with larger firms and corporations with greater financial resources,” Anderson said. “We know our students are already experimenting with these AI tools on their own. If we don’t teach them about the dangers of these tools, and how to use them effectively, responsibly, and ethically early on in their law school careers, then we run the risk that they will go into practice unprepared and with bad habits that could cost their future employers and clients dearly.”

According to Mississippi College, the class was designed and taught by Oliver Roberts, editor-in-chief of AI at The National Law Review and founder of Wickard AI.

“Whether you like AI or not, I believe you should be learning about it because you can strengthen your arguments for it or against it by learning the foundational concepts of it,” Roberts told Mississippi Today.

Mississippi College School of Law joins a growing list of schools offering courses on AI fundamentals. In March, a proposal was introduced in California that would require mandatory AI training for law students.

The AI course requirement reflects a broader shift as courts and law schools prepare lawyers to work with AI systems entering legal practice, and comes as courts experiment with similar tools.

Last month, a Los Angeles Superior Court pilot program tested Learned Hand, an AI system that summarizes filings, organizes evidence, and drafts rulings to help judges manage rising caseloads without replacing human decision-making.

“We’re at a place in society where courts are under tremendous strain,” Learned Hand founder and CEO Shlomo Klapper told Decrypt. “Their caseloads go up, but no help is coming,” he said, adding that advances in artificial intelligence are “massively dropping the cost of litigation.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to include comments from Mississippi College School of Law Dean John P. Anderson.