Legal Reform
Articles are organized by year.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Modern Courts: A Tool of Transformation or a Threat to Justice?
Abstract
This article explores the integration of artificial intelligence in modern courts, with a focus on the Indian judiciary. It evaluates tools like SUPACE and SUVAAS to highlight both the benefits and risks of AI adoption, along with opinions from various judges on whether AI should be used in courts or not. The paper ultimately proposes ethical and regulatory safeguards to ensure that AI complements, rather than replaces, human judicial reasoning.
How Do Continuing Education Requirements Affect a Workforce? Evidence from the Legal Profession (June 14, 2025)
Abstract
I study how requiring lawyers to complete continuing education impacts the American legal profession. I find that continuing education requirements decrease the number of licensed lawyers in a state by 5 percent---a decline that appears to be driven largely by lawyers who do not practice full-time in the state. Next, I find suggestive evidence that the requirements alter the composition of the legal profession, resulting in relatively fewer lawyers available to serve individuals with limited options for legal assistance. Finally, I find some weak evidence that the requirements may modestly improve the quality of services in the state.
Mitchell Hamline School of Law Summer 2020 COVID-19 Legal Response
Abstract
This essay is a reflection on lawyering in a time of crisis. It details the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Clinical Faculty's response to the community needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic by creating the COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic. It also recounts the impact of the murder of George Floyd and the long overdue national reckoning with systemic racism, sparked in our city. Additionally, against this backdrop, it examines the trauma-informed approach taken in clinical work and the classroom to help students process their own trauma and apply this approach in their work with clients. Amid these concurrent crises in our city and country, five clinicians and eleven law students came together through the COVID-19 Legal Response Clinic to serve the community, working on a variety of issues including domestic violence, unemployment, workplace safety, and conditional medical release from prison. With the passage of time, this essay reflects, one year later, on the experience of renewed purpose and optimism through caring for our community, our students, and each other in an otherwise dark and challenging time.