ChatGPT was released for public use on November 30, 2022. Because law firms are starting to use ChatGPT, some law schools, such as the University of Tulsa College of Law, are incorporating how to use ChatGPT ethically into their law school required legal research and writing courses.
There is no consensus among law schools, however, regarding the issue of allowing applicants to use ChatGPT in the law school admissions process, especially in the personal statement requirement. Dean Sue Ann McClellan, Assistant Dean of Admissions at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, explains that the Memphis law school now asks applicants to acknowledge that the personal statement is their own work product and that the applicant did not utilize AI/ChatGPT. The University of Michigan University Law School bans ChatGPT in law school applications. In contrast, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law allows law school applicants to use ChatGPT in their law school applications, including in their personal statements. Arizona State’s law school requires that law school applicants must disclose if they used AI tools, similar to the requirement to acknowledge if they used a professional consultant.
Interestingly, Troy Lowry, Senior Vice President of Technology Products at lsac.org, compared law school applicants’ personal statements with the proctored, timed LSAT writing samples written by the same students. Lowry found that “AI managed to predict correctly better than two-thirds of the time whether the author was the same or not and provided reasons to support its predictions.”
Therefore, what are the best practices for a law school applicant regarding the issue of using ChatGPT?
First, an applicant should always review and follow the policy regarding use of ChatGPT for each law school to which the student is applying. Secondly, and most importantly, understand that your personal statement, written by you as opposed to ChatGPT, will be more authentic because it is your unique story. Your personal statement will allow the law school admissions committee to understand, and remember, the real you.
Just imagine, if Taylor Swift chose ChatGPT to write her songs instead of writing her own songs, would Billboard Magazine be announcing that Taylor Swift now holds the all-time record for the most #1 hits on Billboard’s Pop Radio Chart?
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 