Thinking With AI, Not Through AI

Using Penn Claude as a 1L

Polk Wagner

Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs and Innovation · Fall 2026

AI PROJECT

Your AI Tool Access

Penn Claude Claude chatbot, Claude Code, API credits included Sign in at claude.ai Use PennKey@upenn.edu, not your law address Complete the short required training before first use Every 1L has a seat. Setup details are on the resource guide. PennChat A second opinion from a different model Go to pennchat.upenn.edu On PennNet, or the GlobalProtect VPN off campus OpenAI and Anthropic models; pick an OpenAI model when you want a different read Sign in with your PennKey.

Before Anything Else: This Is Optional

  • You can build strong legal foundations in your 1L year without using AI as a study partner
  • For some students, waiting is the right call
  • Fluency with these tools will matter by the time you graduate

You can do 1L without it.

Course Rules Come First

Civil Procedure AI policy: see syllabus §4 Assignment 2: no AI drafting Ask me if unsure Each professor sets the rules • Rules are set course-by-course • They can differ by assignment within a course • Read the syllabus and the assignment instructions • Permission in one course says nothing about another • If anything is unclear, ask before you use the tool Nothing in this talk overrides a professor's rule.

The Key to Learning with AI: Who Does the Work?

A Trainer Who Lifts for You A Trainer Who Makes You Lift "Again. Slower." • Summarizes the case before you read it • Writes your outline • Drafts your practice answer The barbell moves. Your muscles don't. • Quizzes you after you read • Pokes holes in your rule statement • Grades the answer you wrote You do the reps. The resistance builds muscle.
You did the work first. The tool adds resistance. • Quiz me on what I read • Poke holes in my analysis • Give me a new hypo to work out • Argue the other side against me Only after your own attempt, and verify whatever it hands you. • Audit my brief, after I read the case • Explain it, after my own try • Critique the answer I already wrote • Any case or quote it names: verify it The tool does your learning for you, or the rules say no. • Summarize the case before I read it • Build my outline for me • Draft my practice answer • Anything the course rules bar

The test is simple: did you do the thinking first?

Three Study Routines to Start With

1L_study_routines.txt
<Quiz me>
  "I just read [case]. Do not summarize it. Ask me one question at a time about the holding and how the facts drove it. Push back when my answer is thin."
<Check my rule>
  "Here is my three-sentence statement of [doctrine], based on [cases]: [paste]. Where is it imprecise, overbroad, or open to counterargument? Use only those cases."
<Audit my notes or outline>
  "Here is my section on [topic]: [paste]. Do not rewrite it. Point out gaps, contradictions, and missed exceptions, using only the assigned cases."

Every routine starts with your own work on the page.

More example prompts are on the resource guide.

Four Habits That Keep You in the Green

  • Attempt First, Prompt Second
    • Never start from a blank screen. Put your own analysis in words before you ask.
  • Ask for Questions, Not Answers
    • Make Claude the demanding professor. Questions and critique, not summaries.
  • Verify Every Case and Cite
    • Anything it names, you confirm in the casebook, Westlaw, or Lexis before relying on it.
  • Maintain AI-Free Zones
    • First-pass reading, class, and your practice exams stay fully human.

Your Full 1L AI Resource Guide

  • Copy-and-paste study prompts, including a practice-exam debrief and counterargument sparring
  • Ways to extend Claude: a Project per course, Claude Code for your own notes and outlines, and what connectors may come
  • The learning science behind the traffic light: the fluency trap, desirable difficulties, and why verification is a skill
  • Tool setup, data rules, and the course-rules reminder in one place

Updated continuously with new prompts, resources, and links. Check back.

Polk Wagner  |  pwagner@law.upenn.edu

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1L AI Resource Guide

resources.pennai.law/1L-guide