Pepperdine Caruso Law Named Among Top 20 Most Innovative Law Schools 2026 -- PreLaw Magazine

Pepperdine Caruso Law has been named among the top 20 most innovative law schools in the nation for 2026-2027 by preLaw magazine, a publication of The National Jurist, in the article "How 20 Innovative Law Schools are Preparing Students for the Future of Law." The article highlights law schools that are implementing compelling innovations that extend well beyond teaching students how to use AI. Pepperdine Caruso Law is featured this year for its P(AI)R for Lawyering initiative.

From preLaw magazine:

Offering a course on artificial intelligence is no longer particularly innovative. As AI becomes part of legal practice, the schools pushing furthest ahead are moving beyond introducing students to the technology. They are integrating it across the curriculum, using it to rethink how students learn and giving students opportunities to build and apply technology themselves. ...

Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law is approaching AI readiness as an institution-wide responsibility. Its P(AI)R for Lawyering initiative combines practical skills with four guiding principles: ethics, accuracy, compassion and justice. A new Practical AI Skills Credential requires training in responsible AI use, legal and general-purpose AI tools and a capstone in which students teach a practical AI skill back to faculty.

The approach recognizes perhaps the biggest challenge in teaching rapidly changing technology: Today’s tools may not be tomorrow’s. Instead of preparing students to master a particular platform, Pepperdine Caruso Law is emphasizing the judgment needed to evaluate whatever comes next.

The complete feature may be found at How 20 Innovative Law Schools are Preparing Students for the Future of Law

Additional information on the Pepperdine Caruso Law initiative may be found at P(AI)R for Lawyering