"Large Language Scholarship" by Alan Rozenshtein and Kevin Frazier

Keywords

Science and Technology Law

Abstract

Generative AI isn’t just coming for the legal academy—the era of what we call “Large Language Scholarship” is already here. Law professors are using AI to write articles in weeks rather than months. Law reviews face an unprecedented deluge of AI-polished submissions. And the judges who increasingly lean on AI to help draft their own opinions will soon struggle to distinguish genuine insight from sophisticated imitation. Yet, existing scholarship offers only fragmented responses, trapped in misguided debates about plagiarism and disclosure while missing the full scope of the unfolding transformation.

This Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of how generative AI will reshape legal academia, making three core contributions. First, we explain why integrating AI into scholarship is unavoidable, driven by exponential technological advances, relentless publication pressures, and the practical impossibility of detection.

Second, we map the cascading effects across the legal ecosystem: unprecedented scholarly productivity alongside risks of “scholarly deepfakes”; democratized access to sophisticated analysis coupled with cognitive deskilling; and seismic shifts in how law schools hire faculty, how students learn legal writing, and how courts evaluate scholarly authority.

Third, we propose a framework for responsible use, challenging the common case for mandatory disclosure and arguing that traditional plagiarism norms do not apply to AI tools. Instead, we advocate for absolute authorial accountability and provide practical advice for using AI—including a detailed appendix on specific tools and techniques—while maintaining the essential human judgment that gives scholarship its value.