AI and Legal Technology in Academic Exercises Use Policy

GW Law Interim Default Policy Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity

Fall 2026

Scope

GW Law is committed to developing lawyers prepared to excel in the practice of law. This includes ensuring that our students have a strong foundation in legal analysis, legal theory, traditional legal skills, and the human elements of lawyering—including empathy, adaptability, judgment, and other core professional competencies. At the same time, we must provide a robust education in the ethical, effective, thoughtful, and responsible use of emerging technologies that have become a norm of legal practice.

This statement sets forth GW Law's interim default policy governing the use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies (AI), including Generative AI (GenAI), for work conducted in association with a course in which a student is enrolled, whether or not it is submitted for credit. In Clinics and the Field Placement Program, this default policy does not apply to casework, which will always be governed by additional rules regarding privacy and confidentiality to be articulated in that clinic or field placement. GW Law expects to continue to adapt as technologies shift and may increase permissible uses over time, assuming academic integrity can be protected.

GW Law professors have the discretion to set their own more or less restrictive course or assignment-specific policies regarding the permissible use of AI that they believe best meet the learning objectives of their specific courses and assignments. When professors set such policies, they will be set forth in the course syllabus or specific assignment instructions, and those policies, not this default, will control. Be sure to look to those sources for guidance.

Governing Principles & Default Policy

The Law School prioritizes deep learning, legal and factual accuracy, and preparation for lawyering at the highest level of competence. This policy maintains a human-centered focus that requires students to understand and take ownership of every element of their work and to use technology responsibly, ethically, and transparently.

Thus, in the absence of professor-specific guidance, the following rules apply. Failure to abide by these rules could result in an academic integrity investigation with penalties including, but not limited to, the loss of academic credit and/or mandatory reporting to employers or state bar authorities in connection with character and fitness inquiries.

AI-Assisted Course and Exam Preparation Permitted: 

You are permitted to use AI to aid in understanding course-related topics or to prepare for class sessions or exams. AI responses to professors’ questions during class and on graded assessments, however, must be the product of your own reasoning and your own words.

Use of AI During Exams:

1. You may use basic editing tools, even those enhanced through AI, designed to correct spelling, punctuation, syntax, and typographical errors (e.g., spell check, grammar check, keyboard text prediction) if they are available in the format in which the exam is administered. The range of such tools available will depend on whether the exam is in-class or take-home and which Exam Mode the faculty member has chosen for Exam4 administration.
2. All other uses of AI are prohibited when taking exams, in the absence of express written permission from your professor. If you are ever in doubt, you are not permitted to use AI tools to generate text that will assist you in brainstorming, researching, outlining, drafting, rewriting, or refining/polishing your exam.
3. You are also prohibited from incorporating material created, edited, or otherwise produced with any use of AI (other than basic editing tools), including material contained in an outline, into any open-book or take-home examination.

Use of AI in Other Assignments Submitted to a Professor:

1. You may use publicly available, basic editing tools, even when enhanced through AI, designed to correct spelling, punctuation, syntax, and typographical errors (e.g., spell check, grammar check, keyboard text prediction).
2. AI may be used as a collaborator to augment and enhance, but never replace, your own analysis. This means that you may use AI, including GenAI, to research, brainstorm, proofread, and help you identify areas of your draft where the argument is unclear or the ideas might be more clearly conveyed, just as you would collaborate with peers or a professor. However, AI may never be used in a way that would constitute cheating or plagiarism under the
   GW Law Academic Integrity Code if the technology were a human. This means that you may not use AI to compose the substance or content of work product, without prior approval from your professor, which will be subject to course-appropriate guidance regarding AI disclosure and attribution requirements.
3. When you have used AI (other than basic editing tools) in accordance with paragraph 3b above, you are required to include a general disclosure statement at the end of your submitted work stating:
   1. I used Artificial Intelligence in the [insert permitted uses] of this document. My use complied with the requirements of the GW Law Interim Default Policy Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity, including use of only those tools in the GW Law Nine Dot Menu. In addition, I have verified all sources cited in, or relied upon in the preparation of, this document, and I take full and ultimate responsibility for its content.
   2. In the absence of an AI-use disclosure, you are representing that no AI was used. Specific professor course- or assignment-related policies may require additional disclosure, attribution, or reflection.
4. Unless otherwise instructed in writing by your professor, in all steps of work associated with assignments submitted to a professor, you may use only:
   1. AI available to all law students through GW Law’s Nine Dot Menu (e.g., NotebookLM, Gemini, Harvey), as data uploaded to apps within GW Law’s
      Nine Dot Menu are not used to train public AI models while you are logged in with your GW account; and/or
   2. Tools integrated into public search engines (e.g., Google), GW Law- provided legal research accounts (e.g., Westlaw, Lexis), and productivity suites (e.g., Google Docs, Microsoft Word); and/or
   3. Publicly available basic editing tools.

This limitation applies only to work associated with assignments submitted to a professor. In many instances, professors will encourage you to explore other AI tools to facilitate your ability to evaluate and use them effectively. In all cases, you must be attentive to confidentiality and abide by all guidance from your professor related to how to safely handle copyrighted material or confidential, proprietary, or simulated “client” data provided in class prompts.

As you learn more about these technologies, we encourage you to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses at different phases in your work. You will be responsible for any errors or omissions provided by the tool. Think critically about what works for you, how you can improve your inputs to generate more usable outputs, and the ultimate responsibility you will bear for your analysis. This, in turn, will improve your durable skills – including the human judgment that will be of paramount importance, and in high demand in an increasingly automated legal practice.