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AI in Chambers

What these tools are, where they help, and what is changing in the profession

R. Polk Wagner

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

August 27, 2026

Agenda

1 What AI tools do 2 What has changed in 2026 3 What AI tools are useful for 4 What the bar and law schools are doing 5 What all this means for your chambers
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What these AI tools do

Search retrieves. An AI model generates.

RETRIEVAL Find sources Search an existing collection Returns material that already exists GENERATION Assemble text Predict a plausible continuation Returns newly made language AI TOOLS CAN COMBINE BOTH

A fabricated citation is a predictable failure

Party v. Party | volume | reporter | page Every part can look entirely plausible RETRIEVAL Authority exists? Source opens? VERIFICATION Claim supported? Quote accurate? Pin cite right? Fluency makes fabrication much harder to detect. Retrieve for existence. Verify for support.

Bias can enter at multiple stages

1 TRAINING TEXT Included missing repeated 2 MODEL CHOICES Training tuning safeguards 3 AI TOOL CONTEXT Prompt retrieval defaults 4 OUTPUT Language from prior stages Critically test the chain, not one fluent answer.

Grounding changes the risk profile

MODEL MEMORY No source is visible. CHECK Evidence to confirm? RETRIEVED SOURCES A source is linked. CHECK Right source? SOURCE IN VIEW The source is open. CHECK Claim supported? Grounding narrows risk; it does not make text authoritative.
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What has changed in 2026

What changed that matters to a court

1
More of the recordMany AI tools can work with longer records, either in context or retrieved in pieces.
2
More reasoningMany AI tools use extra computation before answering.
3
More agencyAI ‘agents’ can act semi-independently, search and read, select next steps, and act through connected tools.

AI agents work between checkpoints

HUMAN Sources AGENT Search · read · compare HUMAN Check / approve THE TRACE Tool calls and sources—not internal reasoning. A TRACE IS NOT JUDGMENT Permissions · approval points · human review

One AI tool can operate in three modes

GENERATE Assemble new text Draft · summarize Explain · transform RETRIEVE + GENERATE Find sources first; then assemble text Grounded, not guaranteed ACT Take steps across tools or systems Permissions Approval points The modes can be combined.

Capability is not authority

More capability does not make generated text authoritative.

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What current AI tools are useful for

A useful first screen

1 Source in view? Work from identified materials, not model memory. 2 Output checkable AND checked? A possible check is not the same as a completed check. 3 Judgment retained? The tool assists; the human decides. THEN APPLY COURT RULES APPROVED TOOLS · CONFIDENTIALITY · SECURITY

Good use cases

  • Procedural chronology from specified docket materials, with citations
  • Factual-background first pass from a specified record, with citations
  • Surfacing key questions for argument from the briefs
  • Creating case-management orders from the initial pleadings

Avoid these

  • A decisional draft from model memory
  • Open-ended research: find me a case that says X
  • Asking about a long transcript without ensuring it is fully in view
  • Anything you will not fully check

How to learn: Use these tools

Start where error is cheap and no protected data is at risk

Use an authorized account, public or synthetic material, and a task whose output you can check. (A low-stakes personal task is enough to learn the tool.)

Never use free commercial versions of any AI tool.

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What the bar and law schools are doing

AI use is far outrunning enforced policy

69%of respondents used general-purpose AI for work
9%said their firm actively enforced a formal AI policy

In this survey, reported use ran far ahead of enforced policy.

8am Legal Industry Report 2026; n>1,300; online survey, Sept.–Oct. 2025. Respondent reports, not population estimates. 8am is a legal-software vendor.

Penn began with first-year skills

2023AI lessons and exercises entered first-year Legal Practice Skills
2025–261Ls, third-year writing fellows, and TAs received secure ChatGPT EDU accounts
Spring 2026+2Ls, 3Ls, and LLM students received Harvey access

Source: Penn Carey Law, “Forging the Future,” Jan. 30, 2026.

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What this means for your chambers

What this means for your chambers

Some new lawyers are arriving having learned alongside these tools.

Nothing about these tools changes legal judgment, and responsibility.

R. Polk Wagner

pwagner@law.upenn.edu

QR

The Judicial AI Portal

https://judges.pennai.law/