Mississippi College Law mandates AI certification for 1Ls

Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson requires all first-year students to complete a certification course on artificial intelligence and the law. Announced in October, the class is mandatory for every 1L and must be finished before students move into practice-focused courses. Oliver Roberts, founder of Wickard AI and an editor who covers AI in legal publishing, designed the course and will teach it. The curriculum covers responsible use of AI, methods to verify AI outputs and how to avoid uncritical reliance on automated systems.

Dean John P. Anderson described the goal as preparing “the twenty-first-century lawyer for the effective and ethical use of AI to better serve their clients and communities.” Roberts, who designed the class, emphasized hands-on learning and said the course will cover both technical basics and legal implications. “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,” he said.

The requirement follows court developments that raised questions about AI reliability in legal practice. In 2024, Chief Justice John Roberts warned that generative AI can fabricate information, including nonexistent case law. In February, a federal judge ruled that defendants’ conversations with AI chatbots are not protected by attorney-client privilege and may be admitted as evidence; that ruling prompted some law firms to notify clients and update agreements as they increase internal use of AI tools.

Courts are also testing AI systems to manage heavier dockets. A Los Angeles Superior Court pilot tested an AI tool called Learned Hand that summarizes filings, organizes evidence and drafts proposed rulings. Shlomo Klapper, Learned Hand’s founder, said courts face rising caseloads with limited support and that advances in AI are “massively dropping the cost of litigation.”

At Mississippi College, students are building prototype tools for tasks such as jury analysis and legal drafting, applying classroom lessons to real problems. School officials say the certification will teach verification practices and ethical considerations so future lawyers can identify errors produced by generative systems and decide when using AI is appropriate.