Issues & Trends
Mental Health Declines, AI Disruption Roil Law Schools
January 30, 2024
The pandemic’s long-term effect on students’ mental health and the arrival of artificial intelligence in the classroom are top of mind of many law school administrators around the country.
Recent studies by the American Psychological Association show an exacerbated version of a preexisting trend in students’ mental health, said APA senior director for congressional and federal relations Corbin Evans at the Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) annual meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
“We have seen long, worrying declines in mental health and an increase in mental health conditions over the
past 15 years,” Evans said, attributing the trend, in part, to an increased awareness of mental health over the same period.
Historically underrepresented students are experiencing mental health issues at higher rates than their peers, Evans said. “I don’t think this is going to come as a surprise to you folks, but Black, African American, Latino, and other BIPOC individuals are experiencing an even greater mental health decline … The same is true of other historically [marginalized] communities such as the LGBTQ community,” he said, adding that individuals with intersectional identities experience particularly high rates of mental health crisis.
Andrew Realon, associate director for student academic development at George Washington University Law School, discussed a series of interviews he conducted with students at an unnamed major law school about their mental health and law school experience. “Five major themes emerged,” he said. “They were challenged by the use of the Socratic method. There were challenges with technology that wouldn’t have presented in an in-person modality. They cared deeply about how they were perceived by their peers and professors. Developing bonds with their peers required significant effort. And, finally, office hours were critically important for students to resolve those gaps of understanding.”
Realon’s investigation revealed behaviors specific to law school students. “Nearly every respondent spoke of physiological manifestations of anxiety … when cold-called,” he said. The interviews revealed a new phenomenon: students leaving their Zoom class immediately after being called upon by their professors.
School-provided mental health services are critical, Evans said. “About 70 percent of young people receive their first level of mental health services from a school. They’re six times more likely to access mental health services if they are available at school,” he said, quoting U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
Evans credited investments in the Safer Communities Act and other programs to boost mental health resources in schools, as well as the abatement of pandemic conditions, for more recent improvements in young people’s mental health, though he noted that more work would be necessary to address the increase in reported issues resulting from the pandemic.
Mental Health Help
Law schools have been challenged by the increase in demand for mental health services, with several conference attendees noting significant jumps in requests for accommodation and mental health resources. One Florida law school official said that 50 percent of their current student body was under some form of accommodation.
Some participants questioned whether a broad provision of accommodations, such as exemption from the timed, closed-book requirement of the bar exam, would be a disservice to students. Panelists suggested that a broad reassessment of the pedagogical goals and outcomes of teaching methods might be appropriate given the radical change in circumstances.
One of the accommodations sought by students is the continuation of remote learning, something that several of the panelists noted as a benefit, particularly to nontraditional students. Elizabeth T. Bangs, assistant dean for student affairs at University of Texas at Austin School of Law, said that attitudes about remote learning often broke down along generational lines.
“Many of us have been very comfortable moving to Zoom for faculty meetings, for colloquia, and for other faculty-only events. At some point, at some institutions, there’s going to have to be a reconciliation of the fact that we’re willing to do online business and not willing to do an online classroom,” she said.
AI Risks & Benefits
In another AALS session, panelists discussed academic integrity and artificial intelligence, specifically the risks and benefits of the use of generative AI in teaching, scholarship, and other endeavors.
“In law school, generative AI raises new issues about academic integrity, authentic assessment of student learning, and appropriate learning outcomes,” said Stetson University College of Law professor Kirsten K. Davis. These issues are most relevant in first-year legal research and writing courses, said Davis, who serves as Stetson’s faculty director of online legal education strategies.
Calling AI a significant disruptor, Davis said professors must assess the traditional methods used in teaching these courses and even consider whether some aspects should continue to be taught or assessed at all.
Davis and other panelists acknowledged the presence of generative AI in classrooms and workplaces as a functional reality, generally agreeing that schools have a responsibility to train students in their proper use. Both LexisNexis and Westlaw announced they are making their proprietary AI tools — with searching, drafting, and summarizing capabilities — available to law students starting in the spring semester.
Panelists also addressed school-wide policies relating to students’ use of AI. Many schools lack a policy, while a significant number introduced language into their honor codes that define the unauthorized use of AI as cheating, analogizing it to using a third party’s work product. Policies worded in this fashion allow faculty to permit or deny AI with flexibility.
Christine Lazaro, St. John’s University School of Law’s vice dean for academic affairs and director of the school’s Securities Arbitration Clinic, said that although AI use has been banned in her clinical program due to privacy concerns, she sees the technology’s legitimate utility. “This isn’t that dissimilar from the law firm practice of using a brief bank,” she said. “You have a brief or a memo, but the student still needs to ask, is this good law? Are they good arguments? Is it applicable to my case? What needs to be changed to be more relevant to the facts of the case?”
