On the Cutting Edge - UC Law San Francisco (Formerly UC Hastings)

UC Law SF offers clinics, courses, and professional development at the intersection of law and tech.

Perhaps no field has experienced the disruptive, industry-changing impact of artificial intelligence more than the practice of law. UC Law SF, located steps from companies in the AI vanguard, has adapted in real time to develop programs and talent to lead in AI-related legal education and scholarship.

Coursework ensures that students are AI-capable as they begin their careers; a new certificate program for professionals helps executives, scholars, lawyers, and regulators navigate the complexities wrought by AI; and cutting-edge scholarship addresses the promise and perils of the technology.

As in tech revolutions past, San Francisco is a center for advances in AI, and UC Law SF leverages its proximity to bring leading AI innovators and employers to campus to help drive the conversation.

Tal Niv and Drew Amerson LexLab, run by Tal Niv, director of applied innovation and Shashi & DJ Deb Professor of Practice for Emerging Technology and Law and faculty leader of the lab, and Drew Amerson, director of LexLab, offers courses where students are required to develop their own AI tools as well as an intensive certificate program for lawyers and other professionals.

School curriculum includes a Technology Law and Lawyering Concentration for JD students, with courses in AI Law, AI and the Business of Law, International AI Law and Governance, AI, Data Privacy and the Law, and more.

The Center for Innovation, led by Arthur J. Goldberg Distinguished Professor of Law Robin Feldman, is a creative hive that includes the research-focused AI Law & Innovation Institute and the Startup Legal Garage, which provides startups with free legal guidance.

The UC Law SF Advisory Board on the Technological Transformation of Legal Practice & Education launched in 2025, with experts offering diverse perspectives to drive the school’s approach to AI and related cultural and technological changes affecting the practice of law.