By Isobel Millward and Ria Kapur, Juris Doctor students at UWA
As AI reshapes the world, law schools are struggling to decide whether to fear it, forbid it, or embrace it.
As it stands, AI is mostly discouraged in law schools, with university lecturers emphasising academic integrity. Further, the primary way law students are assessed (in-person, written exams) prevents the use of AI.
It should come as no surprise that this discouragement has certainly not stopped students, or even staff, from using it anyway. Just this year, law students at UWA received an email announcement from a lecturer with Chat GPT’s “Here’s the email announcement in your writing style” message at the top of the email. So, clearly, even UWA staff are exploring the many functions of AI.
Many factors influence a student’s decision to use AI. Some choose to opt out due to concerns about the ethical and environmental consequences. For others, peer pressure may influence their decision. University is a social place, and students tend to care a great deal about how they’re perceived. A student is less likely to use AI, or at least admit to using AI, if they believe their peers will think less of them for doing so.
A recent survey found that whether students and faculty are actively using AI or not, it is having significant interpersonal, emotional effects on learning and trust in the classroom. Many young people struggle with feelings of insecurity, and asking AI eliminates any feeling of judgement. There really are no stupid questions when you’re talking to an AI chatbot.
The truth is that the current generation of law students have had to adapt to the rapidly changing technology space, and it sometimes feels as though you either get with it or get left behind. Elsie McDowell suggests that the impact of COVID 19 lockdowns during high school lingers and has created uncertainty and difficulty around exams and assignments, leading them to use AI.
Interviews with UWA law students show that many are using AI in targeted, cautious ways to support their studies. Several students described turning to AI to break down complex tasks, with one noting they will “occasionally use AI to break down a question or structure an answer”, though they found it less reliable for postgraduate work due to “incorrect case info”.
Students describe using AI with caution to avoid inaccuracies, especially when dealing with case law or complex legal doctrines. One student explained that they use AI “mainly for case summaries or just to help explain different principles”, but only after uploading the original materials so the tool is “not just giving me answers based on made up things”. Another similarly noted that they rely on AI to “summarise notes and maybe rephrase things to make my notes simpler”, but avoid going further because “otherwise it’s really wrong”.
Tools that speed up research were especially popular. As one student put it, “ChatPDF can read a 100-page document in two seconds and pull out the quotes … It saves me hours.”
Others use AI for high-level understanding rather than assessment writing: students commonly relied on it for “case summaries just to get an overview of the facts” or to explain difficult concepts like different types of trusts.
Many also highlighted the usefulness of AI for exam preparation, such as generating practice questions or simplifying dense notes, with one student explaining that ChatGPT’s academic tools helped them “break down my studying and preparation”.
Despite this generally positive view, students are wary of over-reliance on AI. Several emphasise they “never actually use it to write assignments” due to fear of plagiarism detection.
Together, these comments reflect a cautious but practical approach. The general consensus is that AI is helpful for clarity and efficiency, but only when students maintain strict oversight of the sources it relies on. A small number of students do express full refusal to use AI at all, as they do not agree with it. There are certainly valid concerns about the ethical and environmental consequences of AI use. According to recent research, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than the entirety of Denmark.
As the technological world rapidly grows, it is important for universities to help students understand ways in which AI can be used responsibly in the legal field, as well as educating students on environmental consequences of using AI. Regardless of university bans and genuine environmental concerns, law students are quickly coming to terms with AI and it’s many uses in a legal setting, as well as where and how to exercise caution.
