A picture of the front of the law school overlayed with arrows inside of circles

AI @ CLS

Columbia Law School’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative reflects a new approach to preparing lawyers for a profession increasingly shaped by AI.

Teaching Students How to Think.
Preparing for the Future.

Artificial intelligence is changing what it means to study and practice law. As AI tools become increasingly embedded into lawyers’ day-to-day work, law students need to develop not only fluency with these emerging technologies, but also the capacity to deploy them responsibly and in service of society at large.

Columbia Law School is meeting this transformative moment. AI @ CLS: Columbia Law School’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative, takes a multifaceted approach to AI—equipping students with foundational knowledge, advancing field-defining research, and tackling the profound questions that will define our collective future.

Watch: Dean Daniel Abebe discusses Columbia Law’s forward-looking approach to preparing students for the use of AI in legal practice.

AI @ CLS: Three Interconnected Components

Three people sitting with the one in the middle reading a book

Innovating With Purpose

New courses, curricular modules, hands-on training sessions, and cocurricular programs for students to gain AI skills, develop critical judgment, and embrace a sense of intellectual responsibility for their work.

Student in the Li Lu Law Library reading a book.

Expanding Knowledge

New faculty members and an ever-growing breadth of AI and law scholarship, fostering exploration of AI’s applications, responsible development, and regulation.

Tackling Big Questions

A commitment to understanding AI’s broader implications, including for democracy, institutions, economic opportunity, civil and human rights, creativity, labor, access to justice, and the environment.

Partnership With Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

AI @ CLS is supported in part by a five-year commitment from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the Law School’s lead firm partner for AI @ CLS. The partnership will support Columbia Law School’s efforts to develop new curricular and cocurricular offerings; bolster faculty research and expertise in AI; and bring together scholars, practitioners, judges, policymakers, and industry leaders to navigate novel legal and regulatory questions.

“One thing that distinguishes Columbia Law School is our commitment not only to teach students how to think, but also to prepare them for the future. AI presents an extraordinary opportunity to bridge our proud tradition of rigorous, theoretical education with the realities of modern legal practice—to create an environment where students can explore these new tools while developing the judgment, critical thinking, and sense of responsibility to use them well. And, as a law school, we are uniquely positioned to tackle the profound questions AI raises for law, institutions, and society.”

Daniel Abebe, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law

Highlights

Paul, Weiss Orientation Session: Law in the Age of AI

All incoming J.D. and LL.M. students participate in this specially designed program, which focuses on understanding AI tools, using them responsibly and effectively, and exploring their growing role in legal education and practice.

Learning Opportunities Across the Curriculum

All students will be able to explore AI through a variety of curricular options, ranging from broad introductory lecture courses to intensive, subject-specific seminars. Examples include:

Law & AI, a new upper-level elective survey course
AI and Law Colloquium
Seminars including the Law of Artificial Intelligence; Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and Surveillance Law; and Intellectual Property in the Digital Age
AI modules in 1L courses and AI literacy woven into the Legal Practice Workshop

A Nexus for Faculty and Scholars Working on AI

Neel Guha, an innovative legal scholar with expertise in computer science, joined the Columbia Law School faculty as an associate professor in July 2026.
Elliot Ash LAW ’10, GSAS ’16, serves as the Law School’s inaugural Paul, Weiss Distinguished AI Scholar in Residence.
Faculty incorporate AI into their research across disciplines and from a wide range of perspectives.