Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning, First Edition

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Authors

April G. Dawson
Daniel W. Linna Jr.

Series / Aspen Casebook Series

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Book length

1000 pages

Publication Date

2026-10-22

Edition

First Edition

Description

Table of contents

Preface

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Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning by April G. Dawson and Daniel W. Linna Jr.— a transformative guide exploring how AI is reshaping legal systems and the delivery of and access to legal services.

Written by two of the leading experts in the field, Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning is the first textbook designed to equip the next generation of lawyers with the knowledge and skills to use AI responsibly and well. Blending practical instruction with technical, theoretical, ethical, and regulatory context, this groundbreaking resource introduces students to how large language models, machine learning, expert systems, and data analytics can augment or automate core legal tasks—from research, analysis, drafting, and client counseling to adjudication in courts and alternative fora. With AI reshaping legal practice and education at unprecedented speed, this is the essential guide for anyone seeking to understand the power of technology in legal systems and the legal services industry.

Professors and students will benefit from:

Comprehensive coverage of today’s AI technologies and relevant scholarly research
A hands-on learning approach that empowers students to develop a functional understanding of AI technologies
Integrated attention to ethics and professional responsibility
Opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, including practical skill-building in designing, developing, and evaluating AI systems

Preface

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About the authors

April G. Dawson

A nationally recognized voice on technology in legal education, April Dawson is a Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Howard Law AI Initiative at the Howard University School of Law. Before joining Howard in August 2026, she spent 19 years on the faculty of North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she served as the inaugural Associate Dean of Technology and Innovation and led the creation and growth of the NCCU Technology Law & Policy Center (TLPC). Under her leadership, the TLPC launched the Law and Technology Certificate Program, and NCCU Law was named the #1 Most Innovative Law School by National Jurist’s preLaw Magazine (October 2025) and recognized in the December 2025 ABA AI Task Force Report on AI in the Practice of Law as the first law school in the U.S. to offer an AI Governance course—taught by Dawson—preparing students for the IAPP AI Governance Professional (AIGP) certification exam.

She graduated cum laude from the Howard University School of Law in 1994, where she was on the editorial board of the Howard Law Journal and a member of the National Moot Court Team. After law school, she joined the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General's Honors Program, where she argued cases before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits. In 1996, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, after which she joined a Washington, D.C., law firm as a litigation associate and taught legal writing as an adjunct at the George Washington University School of Law. In 1999, she moved to North Carolina to start a private practice dedicated to representing employees in cases involving sexual harassment, discrimination, and related disputes. She joined the NCCU Law faculty in 2006 and taught a wide range of courses, including Artificial Intelligence and the Law, AI Governance, Legal Technology Equity and Leadership, Constitutional Law, Supreme Court Seminar, Torts, Administrative Law, and Voting Rights. She was voted Professor of the Year multiple times.

Her interest in technology traces back to her undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Bennett College and her work as a computer programmer at Los Alamos National Laboratory prior to law school. She is the author of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity (Aspen, 2023) and the co-author, with Dan Linna, of Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning (Aspen, 2026).

She has presented several Association of American Law Schools (AALS) webinars, including Teaching with Technology for Maximum Student Engagement, Tech Productivity Tips for Law Faculty, and The Paperless Law Prof, and has served on the ABA TECHSHOW panels Skills Building: Best Practices for Teaching Tech to Law Students and Tech Forward: New Jobs for New Lawyers. She has chaired the North Carolina Bar Association's Future of Law Committee and the AALS Section on Technology, Law and Legal Education, and served on the Governing Council of the ABA Center for Innovation. She was named a 2026 ABA Legal Rebel, a 2024 vLex Fastcase 50 Honoree, and a 2022 ABA Women of Legal Tech Honoree, and received the 2021 AALS Technology, Law and Legal Education Section Award. For many years she co-hosted the Legal Eagle Review radio show on WNCU 90.7 FM with her NCCU colleague Irving Joyner, featuring weekly interviews on law-related concerns affecting the local community as well as state and national audiences.

Daniel W. Linna Jr.

Dan Linna is a Professor of Instruction in Law and Computer Science and the Director of Law and Technology Initiatives at Northwestern University, where he is jointly appointed at Pritzker School of Law and in the Computer Science Department of McCormick School of Engineering. For more than a decade Dan has focused on applications of artificial intelligence and data analytics for legal-services delivery. Dan’s research and teaching focus on the use of AI for legal tasks by judges, lawyers, and individuals and the law and regulation of AI. Dan regularly teaches Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning, Law of AI and Robotics, Introduction to Law and Digital Technologies, and the Innovation Lab: Building Technologies for Law. Dan regularly speaks to and conducts training for judges, lawyers in large law firms, government attorneys, and other legal professionals.

Dan is also an affiliated faculty member at CodeX — The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics. Dan is also an affiliated faculty member at CodeX — The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics. Dan joined Northwestern as a Visiting Professor of Law from Michigan State University College of Law, where he was a Professor of Law in Residence and the founder and Director of LegalRnD — The Center for Legal Services Innovation. At Michigan State, Dan taught Quantitative Analysis for Lawyers, Litigation {Data, Theory, Practice, & Process}, Entrepreneurial Lawyering, and Lawyer Ethics and Regulation in a Technology-Driven World. Dan has also been a visiting professor at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany, where he has taught Computational Law and Rules-Driven Automation, and an adjunct professor at IE Law School in Madrid, Spain, where he has taught courses on Assessing Artificial Intelligence and Computational Technologies, Machine Learning, and Legal Operations. Dan has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where he has taught Negotiation as well as Legal Technology & Innovation: Legal-Service Delivery in the 21st Century.

Dan began his legal career with a one-year judicial clerkship for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James L. Ryan. After his clerkship, he joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, an Am Law 200 firm headquartered in Detroit. Dan was a litigator and member of Honigman's Automotive and Manufacturing; e-Discovery and Information Management; Commercial Transactions; and Social, Mobile, and Emerging Media groups. In 2013, Dan was elected equity partner.

Dan received his BA from the University of Michigan, received a second BA and an MA in public policy and administration from Michigan State University, and graduated magna cum laude, Order of the Coif from the University of Michigan Law School.

Before law school, Dan was an information technology manager, developer, and consultant. His work included computerizing and automating business processes, developing dynamic, data-driven websites, and building enterprise information systems.

Dan was named to the 2015 Fastcase 50 as a person who has charted a new course for the delivery of legal services. Dan was a co-founder and co-director of the Institute for the Future of Law Practice, chair of the Legal Analytics Committee of the ABA Business Law Section and appointed to the 2024 Illinois Supreme Court Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Dan is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and in 2018 was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and named an ABA Journal Legal Rebel.

Social Media

Twitter: @DanLinna Link: https://twitter.com/DanLinna

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danlinna/

Northwestern profile: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/profiles/DanielWLinna/

Product Information

Edition

First Edition

Publication date

2026-10-22

Copyright Year

2025

Pages

1000

eBook

9798894102412

Subject

Artificial Intelligence , Science, Technology, and the Law , Technology , Computer and Cyberlaw

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$126.00

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