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Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers celebrated its 75th anniversary on July 31, 2026, with a timely look at one of the most consequential issues facing legal writers today: how to harness artificial intelligence without surrendering the judgment, creativity, and accountability that define excellent lawyering. Held at UIC Law in Chicago, “The Future of Legal Writing: Balancing AI and Human Judgment” brought together experts from the judiciary, private practice, alternative dispute resolution, and legal education for a wide-ranging conversation about how generative AI is changing legal research, writing, advocacy, and professional training. Scribes President Michele M. Jochner opened the Diamond Anniversary program by reflecting on Scribes’ history and its 75-year commitment to excellence, clarity, integrity, and purpose in legal writing. She also framed the challenge ahead: technology can be an important addition to a lawyer’s toolbox, but it cannot replace the human work of interpreting precedent, developing persuasive arguments, exercising professional judgment, and maintaining credibility. Professor Kirsten K. Davis of Stetson University College of Law moderated a panel featuring Professor Patrick Barry of the University of Michigan Law School; Gretchen H. Sperry of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani; Todd C. Toral of Jenner & Block; Kelly Turner of the American Arbitration Association; and the Honorable Rena Van Tine of the Illinois Appellate Court. The discussion moved well beyond the familiar problem of AI hallucinations. Panelists explored confidentiality and client consent, judicial expectations, ethical billing, AI-assisted arbitration, self-represented litigants, law-school pedagogy, mentoring, and even whether AI-generated prose has a recognizable style. A consistent theme emerged: AI can assist professional judgment, but it cannot replace it. Toral memorably compared AI to “a very good first-year associate”—potentially useful, but not someone whose work a senior lawyer would simply submit to a court without careful review. Justice Van Tine similarly distinguished between using technology to organize or locate information and asking it to decide which party has the stronger argument. The implications for the next generation of lawyers received particular attention. Barry urged law schools to develop “skilled skeptics”—lawyers who understand both what AI tools can do and where they fail. He cautioned that AI may reward expertise while amplifying the problems created when users lack the knowledge necessary to recognize a bad answer. Davis and other panelists emphasized that legal education must continue developing critical thinking, independent analysis, and the ability to challenge apparently authoritative text. And because this was a Scribes program, the conversation ultimately returned to the writing itself. Panelists questioned whether technically polished AI prose can replicate the concision, voice, empathy, creativity, and judgment found in exceptional human writing. Their discussion reinforced a point central to Scribes’ mission: new tools may change how lawyers work, but they make excellence in legal writing—and the human judgment behind it—more important, not less. Scribes thanks Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP, the American Arbitration Association, UIC Law, New York Law School, and Southwestern Law School for supporting the Diamond Anniversary program. Watch the full program below and join Scribes as we continue writing the next chapter of our story.

Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers will mark its 75th anniversary by examining the future of legal writing. On Friday, July 31, 2026, Scribes will convene a 90-minute CLE program in Chicago titled “The Future of Legal Writing: Balancing AI and Human Judgment.” The program will be held at UIC Law’s Goldberg Courtroom, 300 S. State Street, from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m.; the CLE panel will run from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., followed by a reception. Generative AI has evolved quickly from a curiosity to a work tool to systems that can plan, draft, revise, summarize, check, and recommend. AI can help lawyers test structure, identify gaps, accelerate research, and produce a draft when the blank page refuses to cooperate. But the profession’s core duties have not been altered. Lawyers still owe clients duties of competence, candor, supervision, confidentiality, and judgment. Those duties are nondelegable and cannot outsourceable to a chatbot. The program will explore myriad relevant questions. What happens to judicial writing when judges and law clerks have access to AI tools? Are courts beginning to read attorney submissions with greater skepticism? How should appellate advocates preserve voice, creativity, and credibility when technology can produce plausible but unreliable prose at remarkable speed? What policies, training models, and proprietary tools are law firms adopting to ensure that newer lawyers learn the fundamentals rather than simply learn the shortcut? And what do clients expect from outside counsel in terms of disclosure, guardrails, cost, and accountability? The panel’s design reflects that legal writing is an ecosystem. A judicial opinion, an appellate brief, a client memorandum, a motion, a contract provision, and a student assignment carry different audiences, constraints, risks, and norms. Yet all depend on the same foundation: a writer who understands the law, the facts, the purpose, the audience, and the consequences of being wrong. Professor Kirsten K. Davis of Stetson University College of Law, a recognized expert in AI, legal education, and the legal profession, will moderate a panel with members from the legal academy, appellate practice, litigation, corporate legal departments, alternative dispute resolution, and the judiciary. Participants include Professor Patrick Barry, Director of Digital Academic Initiatives at the University of Michigan Law School; Gretchen H. Sperry, Appellate Chair at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani; Todd C. Toral, Co-Chair of Jenner & Block’s Financial Litigation Practice; Kelly Turner, General Counsel and Vice President of the American Arbitration Association; and the Honorable Rena Van Tine of the Illinois Appellate Court. The program will close with a forward-looking discussion of agentic AI and emerging systems. That topic matters because the profession is moving beyond tools that merely respond to a prompt. Newer systems increasingly appear capable of taking assigned goals, selecting intermediate steps, and interacting with other tools. For legal writing, the question will not be whether AI can generate a better sentence. It will be whether the lawyer can explain, verify, supervise, and stand behind the work product that emerges from a more complex technological chain. For 75 years, Scribes has championed clear, precise, ethical legal writing. The AI era does not make that mission obsolete; instead, it makes it urgent. As the Scribes mission statement explains: Scribes champions excellence in legal writing. Since 1951, we have promoted clear, succinct, and persuasive legal style and argument. We advance these goals through our publications, awards, outreach, and educational programs. As legal writing continues to evolve, we embrace innovation guided by human judgment and accountability. Scribes is grateful that Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP is the organization’s 75th anniversary sponsor and that the American Arbitration Association, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is a program sponsor. We hope you will join us for this Diamond Anniversary Celebration and spread the word. Registration is open: Scribes 75th Anniversary CLE Tickets, Friday, July 31  •  3 PM – 5:30 PM | Eventbrite Sponsors:    

Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers has posted the video of its March 5, 2026 CLE program featuring Professor Wes E. Henricksen of Barry University School of Law, winner of the 2025 Scribes Book Award. The program centers on Henricksen’s acclaimed book, In Fraud We Trust: How Leaders in Politics, Business, and Media Profit from Lies—and How to Stop Them, and is now available on the Scribes website. In a conversation with Justice Michael B. Hyman of the Illinois Appellate Court, Chair of Scribes’ Book Award Committee, Henricksen discussed the question that drove the book: why large-scale lies in politics, business, and media can cause real harm yet often fall outside traditional fraud law. He explained how mass deception now moves faster and farther than legal rules designed for one-on-one wrongdoing, and why any serious response must account for both public harm and First Amendment protections. The program also showed why the book earned Scribes’ top honor. Henricksen made a difficult subject accessible without watering it down. He spoke about how deception works, why it is so hard to detect, and how the law might respond more effectively. As the Book Award Committee recognized, the book stands out not just for its research, but also for its clear, readable writing. For lawyers, judges, professors, and students, the conversation offered an added bonus: practical insight into the writing process. Henricksen described book writing as a long cycle of drafting, revising, cutting, and returning to the manuscript with fresh eyes. He also shared advice familiar to every good legal writing teacher: strong writing rarely appears in one draft. It gets better through time, discipline, and revision. The recorded program is worth watching for anyone interested in legal writing, free speech, and the growing problem of large-scale deception in public life. Watch the video on the Scribes website: https://scribes.org/2026/02/09/scribes-2025-book-award-cle-program-on-thursday-march-5-2026/

February 7, 2026: Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers is pleased to welcome ix new directors to the Board. Their work spans the appellate bench, complex litigation, attorney training, legal writing education, and law librarianship. Collectively, they bring a wealth of legal writing expertise that will advance Scribes’ mission and strategic goals.

On March 5, 2026 Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers—hosted an engaging discussion with Professor Wes Henricksen, whose book, In Fraud We Trust: How Leaders in Politics, Business, and Media Profit from Lies—and How to Stop Them, received the Scribes 2025 Book Award. In this CLE program, Professor Henricksen will discuss the research and writing that shaped the book and examine how mass deception operates, why current law falls short, and potential legal responses to protect the public—including whether existing First Amendment protections warrant reconsideration. Complimentary CLE credit was offered for virtual attendees in Arizona,* Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. *The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement. This activity may qualify for up to 1 hour toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona, including 0 hour(s) of professional responsibility.

Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers congratulates the winners of its 2025 Brief-Writing Award, a national honor recognizing exceptional legal writing by law students in interscholastic moot court competitions.

Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers—is pleased to announce the winners of its 2025 Law Review Article Award, which honors the best student-written article published in a law review or journal. Since 1987, Scribes has presented this award annually to recognize excellence in legal writing, research, and scholarly contribution. This year’s winners are:

December 6, 2025. Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers—is pleased to announce that Michele M. Jochner, its newly installed President, is the 2025 Joseph Kimble Distinguished Service Award winner. Outgoing Scribes President Darby Dickerson presented the award yesterday during the organization’s annual awards ceremony.

On December 5, the Scribes Board adopted a new mission statement and installed its new President and Vice President. Although Scribes has long had organizational goals, the Board adopted a new mission statement to affirm its longstanding commitment to fostering clarity and professionalism in legal writing while embracing evolving tools and expectations: