Two Teams of Minnesota Law Faculty Are Inaugural Recipients of the Kommerstad Faculty Imagination Fund

Two teams of Minnesota Law professors are exploring how new technologies can help shape the future of legal education — in the classroom and in the field — as recipients of the inaugural grants from the Kommerstad Faculty Imagination Fund.

Professors Amy Monahan, Daniel Schwarcz and Jon Choi received $15,000 to test whether using artificial intelligence (AI) language models can improve the performance of students on legal writing tasks. This experiment expands on a paper they wrote with Professor Kristin Hickman, “ChatGPT Goes to Law School,” which drew widespread attention after the generative AI chatbot averaged “a low but passing grade” on final exams in four fall semester courses. Prof. Choi, who late last month announced he was departing Minnesota Law to join the faculty of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, will continue to collaborate on the project.

Professors Chris Roberts and Ryan Greenwood will put their $5,000 grant toward developing a course that includes taking students into the field to consider how advanced technologies may outpace existing law in areas such as transportation, civic infrastructure and AI. The course also would partner with the Law Library to examine the implications that new technologies may have on advanced legal research.