Law & AI Academic Fellowship

The Institute for Law & AI (LawAI) is seeking aspiring legal scholars who intend to go on the US academic job market to produce legal scholarship on the law of transformative artificial intelligence as part of the inaugural Law & AI Academic Fellowship.

The Law & AI Academic Fellowship is intended as an alternative to university-sponsored Visiting Assistant Professor or law fellow positions for legal scholars wishing to pursue a career in US legal academia. The goal is to prepare fellows for the US legal academic job market by providing them with the time and resources to produce high-quality, impactful academic research as part of a larger academic application package. Fellows should expect to spend the majority of the fellowship researching and writing articles for publication in law journals.

If you’re looking for a supportive place to explore a career at the cutting edge of AI, law, and academia, and build your skills under the mentorship of our network of researchers and affiliates, we encourage you to apply. 

This is a full-time, two-year role. The salary for the position is $130,000 per year. If you are seeking a different position, please review our open positions or submit an expression of interest.

The inaugural Law & AI Academic Fellows will produce legal scholarship that helps humanity navigate challenges arising from transformative AI, in order to safeguard human welfare, security, and the rule of law. Our goal is to prepare fellows for the US legal academic job market by providing them with the time and resources to produce high-quality, impactful academic research as part of a larger academic application package.

Fellows will spend most of their time producing legal scholarship and preparing to enter the legal academic job market. We will pair fellows with an academic mentor from our network of affiliated academics who will provide ongoing support throughout the fellowship. We will also provide fellows with more intensive support from our broader network of affiliates in the final stages of their application process, such as moot interviews and intensive feedback on their application package.

The Law & AI Academic Fellowship is intended to serve as an alternative to Visiting Assistant Professor and entry-level fellowship positions offered by law schools.

One of the benefits of the fellowship is that, unlike with most university-affiliated positions, teaching is not required. Fellows may, however, wish to gain teaching experience to support their job applications. If so, we encourage fellows to inquire about teaching opportunities at schools of interest. While LawAI cannot guarantee placement, we and our affiliates may be able to help secure teaching positions at their institutions. Similarly, we encourage fellows to inquire about opportunities to spend time in residence at academic institutions of interest, to benefit from their intellectual environment and research resources.

Funding for the Law & AI Academic Fellowship comes from LawAI’s philanthropic funders. We recognize that the value of legal scholarship depends on its intellectual independence, and that prospective fellows and hiring committees alike will want assurance that the fellowship does not compromise scholarly integrity.

To support the academic freedom and intellectual integrity of the Law & AI Academic Fellows, LawAI commits to:

• No funder influence over research or hiring. LawAI will not permit its external funders* to direct or veto the research output of fellows, nor to influence the selection of fellows. Fellows’ scholarship is their own.
• Full discretion over research topics and conclusions. As described above, fellows will be selected in part based on their research interests. However, once hired, fellows will have sole authority to select their research questions, methodologies, and conclusions. LawAI may suggest topics or offer feedback, but fellows are free to disregard such suggestions.
• No prior restraint on publication. Fellows will submit their scholarship for publication without prior approval from LawAI. 
• No required consulting. LawAI offers consulting services to select governmental, nonprofit, and corporate clients aiming to improve the law and policy of advanced AI systems. Fellows will not be required to perform consulting services for LawAI or its clients, paid or otherwise. Fellows will also have the option to be firewalled from consulting altogether, such that they are not asked to perform consulting services. 
• Freedom to express views that diverge from LawAI’s positions. Fellows are encouraged to reach their own independent conclusions, including ones that may differ from, or are critical of, positions taken by LawAI and its funders.

Because fellows will be integrated into the LawAI team, they will be required to sign a confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreement. To facilitate the above commitments to academic freedom, this agreement will explicitly exclude scholarly works, teaching materials, and works produced outside the Fellowship, as long as they do not contain LawAI’s confidential information. 

* Some LawAI employees have donated to LawAI in the past, and these employees may exercise influence over the hiring process.

Compensation 

The salary for the position is $130,000 per year.

Start date

We prefer fellows who can start shortly after receiving an offer. To accommodate candidates who are entering the job market for the fall 2027 cycle, we may be able to offer a start date as late as September of 2027. 

Renewal

The initial term for the fellowship is two years. However, we understand that for certain candidates, two years may be insufficient to assemble a strong application package and secure a tenure-track position. For such fellows, we may be open to extending the fellowship for an additional year, contingent upon strong performance throughout the first two years and funding availability.

Time zones and location 

This is a full-time, two-year position with flexible working hours and location. 

We expect that most fellows will work from the US, as this position is targeted at individuals planning on applying for faculty positions at US law schools.

Fellows will be required to spend at least one month per year (preferably in the summer) working in-person with the LawAI team in either Washington, DC, or Cambridge, UK. LawAI will help cover associated costs, including travel, housing, and childcare. While one month per year is required, we encourage fellows to spend additional time in-person.

Visas: We may be able to support visa applications in some instances for this role, though individual eligibility is not within our control.

Benefits

Our benefits include:

• Flexible working hours, with the option to work from our office in Cambridge, UK
• 5 weeks of PTO recommended per year, plus public holidays
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave that can be taken prior to birth or adoption and during the first year, with the option to take additional unpaid leave
• Employer pension or matching 401(k) contribution up to 4% of your salary
• Health insurance for employees residing in countries without nationalized healthcare 
• An annual reimbursement fund of $5,000 for productivity and professional development, which we encourage you to use for travel to academic conferences, workshops and job talks
• An annual reimbursement fund of $5,000 for mental health support
• An annual reimbursement fund of $2,500 for equipment and office supplies
• A friendly, open work culture that encourages feedback and close collaboration, and a team that appreciates the contributions of all team members.

For this position, we will offer an additional $5,000 annual travel reimbursement budget to help fellows attend academic conferences, workshops, and job talks. This is a floor and not a ceiling, and may be increased if needed.

Research Support

LawAI’s expense policy allows employees to expense reasonable research expenditures, including books, journal access, and database access (e.g., Westlaw). All LawAI employees have access to leading generative AI tools. As mentioned above, we also encourage fellows to seek out opportunities to affiliate with a university during their fellowship to, inter alia, enable easier access to library resources. LawAI may be able to help find universities that are open to such arrangements.

Fellows will have the option to hire Seasonal Research Fellows to serve as research assistants. LawAI can also provide funding for contractors to help with, for example, editing and sub-citing fellows’ research.

We strongly encourage fellows to ask for additional forms of research support not covered by the aforementioned resources as the need arises. LawAI aims to provide world-class research support to fellows so that they can dedicate as much time as possible to the substantive components research.

Diversity

We aim to employ people with many different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who share our mission. We are committed to creating an environment where all employees have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their race, religion, disability, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.

Requests for accommodation

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability or incompatible assistive technology, please contact hiring@law-ai.org to request reasonable accommodations.