Legal AI Takes Center Stage at Law School

The free, public event is scheduled for 4 p.m. Feb. 26 in the school's Weems Auditorium. A reception will follow.

Scott Shapiro, professor of law and philosophy at Yale University, will discuss "Leibniz's Dream: How to Automate Legal Reasoning." Shapiro is also founding director of the Yale Legal AI Lab and the Yale CyberSecurity Lab.

"We hope to learn how with emerging tools in generative AI, we might actually be able to realize philosopher Gottfried Leibniz's vision of legal calculus, or a system that can reliably take the law and interpret it and apply it to certain facts correctly," said Aaron Graham, Ole Miss assistant professor of philosophy.

A former special assistant for AI ethics for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Shapiro is also the author of "Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks" (Macmillan, 2023), about the history of hacking.

"Shapiro has a gift for making deep, philosophical and legal ideas understandable for a popular audience," Graham said.

The lecture series was created in 1987 by the late attorney Jack Dunbar and Wylene Dunbar, a former UM philosophy professor and law school alumna. During her time as a philosophy graduate student at Vanderbilt University, she gleaned insights from visiting philosophical lecturers and wanted to provide such opportunities for Ole Miss.

"Jack and I primarily wanted Ole Miss students and faculty to have the benefit of interacting in person with prominent intellectual leaders in legal philosophy and, so, endowed a lecture series to that end," Dunbar said.

Accordingly, the lecture series is a cooperative effort between the School of Law and the Department of Philosophy and Religion. It explores philosophical themes in law and creative and analytical thinking concerning the law's role in society by bringing renowned speakers to campus.

"But we also wanted to introduce these celebrated speakers to Ole Miss and let them experience and appreciate the very special place and people that comprise it," she said.

The lecture series has brought some of the top philosophical minds to Ole Miss to discuss cutting-edge issues of the day, said Will Berry, professor of law.

"Professor Shapiro is a scholar of jurisprudence and an expert on AI, and is exploring some of the ethical and practical implications using AI and its intersection with the legal world going forward," he said.

Graham agreed that the event will be a unique experience.

"This will be a great opportunity for anyone with questions or concerns about AI and legal reasoning to pick Shapiro's brain and his wealth of knowledge," Graham said.

Top: The 2026 Dunbar Lecture, organized by the School of Law and the Department of Philosophy and Religion, will examine how to use artificial intelligence reliably and ethically in the legal field. Adobe Stock photo