By the end of their first year, every first year JD student starting in 2025 at WashU Law will be proficient not only in traditional legal research but also in the fundamentals of generative AI, a dual fluency that sets them apart at summer placements and beyond.
Through the yearlong, one-credit Legal Research course, 1Ls gain a strong foundation in the core elements of legal research: court hierarchy, binding and persuasive authority, primary versus secondary sources, the interaction of government branches, and research strategies for legislative and regulatory history. They also develop practical fluency with essential tools like transactional databases, form libraries, and chart builders.
AI instruction is integrated thoughtfully, not as a replacement, but as a complement to these fundamentals. “WashU Law incorporates AI while maintaining the basics of legal research,” says Associate Dean Peter Hook. “By teaching the basics, we teach the skills necessary to evaluate whether AI-produced legal research results are any good.”
Students learn how to spot hallucinated content, compare results across human- and AI-generated platforms, and leverage emerging legal-specific GenAI tools responsibly. This balanced approach preserves a key edge. “Our students have a stronger research foundation than many of their peers—we hear it all the time after their 1L summers. We’re enhancing that edge by integrating AI the right way,” Dean Stefanie Lindquist adds.
The result is a curriculum that keeps pace with technology while preserving the rigor and depth that employers value.