Law Schools Split on ChatGPT in Admissions Essays

Inside Higher Ed

Lauren Coffey

August 4, 2023

As ChatGPT becomes commonplace among legal professionals, law schools are divided on whether to allow students to use the artificial intelligence tool in the admissions process.

A week after the University of Michigan Law School announced the AI tool would be banned in law school applications, Arizona State University Law School took the opposite approach.

ASU announced on July 27 that future applicants will be allowed to use ChatGPT in their applications, specifically for their personal statements, which are akin to the essays required in undergraduate applications.

“It’s sort of accepting reality,” said Gary Marchant, director of ASU’s Center for Law, Science and Innovation. He said students would be using the tool regardless and more lawyers have been making headlines after using ChatGPT.

“If the assumption is going to be that they’re using it, it makes sense to allow its use under supervision and guidance,” he said. “That’s how they’re going to work in the real world—lawyers use it every day now.”

The growing adoption of ChatGPT among lawyers, who use it for researching and writing in legal briefs and filings, has created a sense of urgency for law schools. Multiple law professors said it would be “malpractice” to not teach students how to use AI chat bots like ChatGPT.

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