From Admissions Essay to Legal Practice: The Lawyer’s Skill of Prompting

The University of Miami and the University of Michigan are now asking law school applicants to use AI in their admissions essays. That headline alone might make some of us uneasy. After all, admissions essays have traditionally been about the applicant's authentic story, not what a tool generates. But let’s step back.

At Miami, applicants must submit a prompt for a generative AI tool like ChatGPT, plus three to five follow-up prompts, and then discuss how the AI output might inform their decision about where to attend law school. At Michigan, one optional essay asks applicants to reflect on their current use of generative AI and predict how they’ll use it by the time they graduate.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

The real skill Miami is testing isn’t whether an applicant can write a flawless essay. The real skill Miami is testing is whether an applicant can craft an effective AI prompt and then engage with the output thoughtfully.

When you think about it, this isn’t new at all. Lawyers have always had to master the art of asking good questions:

• In research: structuring searches in Westlaw or Lexis using connectors and terms so you don’t drown in irrelevant results.

  
  

• In advocacy: asking precise, targeted questions in cross-examination so you don’t lose control of the narrative.

  
  

• In counseling: knowing what to ask clients to uncover the real issues so you don’t miss the true problem hidden beneath the surface.

Each of these settings requires the same underlying skill: specificity, clarity, focus, and adaptability.

These same skills connect directly to the bar exam context and the kinds of tasks examinees will face.

Beginning in July 2026 in some jurisdictions, the NextGen Bar Exam will continue to emphasize memorization and application, but it represents a significant shift. Fewer subjects will be tested, and there will be greater emphasis on foundational lawyering skills, including legal research. Examinees may be asked to review a client scenario, consult a library of provided authorities, and then craft a response. Questions may require more than recall; they may demand the ability to frame precise searches, interpret and prioritize the authorities, and adapt when an initial approach doesn’t yield the answer. Legal research, in other words, moves from a supporting role to a central competency. This stronger emphasis on research and problem‑solving is what ties directly back to Miami’s essay prompt, which asks applicants to demonstrate how they craft and refine queries with AI.

In short, the very skills Miami is highlighting through its admissions essay—the ability to identify what you need, structure a query, and refine your approach—are some of the same core competencies the NextGen Bar Exam will demand of future lawyers.

Good lawyering has always been about good prompting. Whether you’re prompting a legal database, a witness, a client, or now an AI model, the skill remains the same: specificity, clarity, focus, and adaptability.