Thibault Schrepel - Why banning AI in law schools will fail

Banning AI at law schools will not save legal education. It will make it unfair.

In this episode of Legal AI Lab, Hidde Bruinsma speaks with Thibault Schrepel, Associate Professor of Law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and founder of Stanford’s Computational Antitrust Project.

Schrepel explains why banning AI creates distorted competition, why AI detection does not work, and why law schools must rethink how they teach and assess students instead of trying to preserve outdated systems.

Based on a two year classroom experiment, he shows what happens when students use AI without guidance, with guidance, or not at all. The results challenge common fears about shortcuts and show why AI can strengthen learning when used deliberately.

The conversation also dives into the limits of future proof regulation, the challenges of the EU AI Act, and how AI is already changing law firm business models, billing structures, and the role of junior lawyers.

AI is not ending the legal profession. It is removing the most tedious work and increasing the value of human judgment, creativity, and strategy.

It forces legal education to confront how lawyers actually create value.

You’ll learn

• Why banning AI in law schools creates inequality rather than fairness

• What actually happens when students use AI in legal education

• Why detecting AI generated work does not work at scale

• How legal education must change exams and teaching methods

• Why future proof regulation is impossible and adaptive law is necessary

• How the EU AI Act struggles with fast technological change

• Why hourly billing is under pressure

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction.

3:05 Fear, prohibition and the illusion of control

7:40 There is no hiding from AI in legal practice

12:20 What really goes wrong when lawyers misuse AI

17:30 AI does not replace reasoning. It exposes weak reasoning

22:45 Judges, responsibility and meaningful human control

28:30 Why AI literacy matters more than technical skill

33:50 New legal markets beyond traditional law firms

38:40 Why old billing models are under pressure

43:10 The EU AI Act. Guardrails, risk categories and legal responsibility

47:40 What the AI Act means for lawyers, judges and legal education

50:10 Final reflection. Regulation as a condition for trust

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