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Last month, several West Virginia University College of Law students attended the West Virginia Restorative Justice Summit from June 14-15 in Buckhannon.

If you were to walk into the law school this fall, you would find many classes that have been taught for over a century: torts, contracts, criminal law, etc. But you might be surprised at some other classes today’s law students can take at West Virginia University College of Law.

As the field of law has evolved, and especially as advances in artificial intelligence have changed the legal landscape, the College of Law has innovated its course offerings. For example, the College of Law has offered Artificial Intelligence and the Law since 2020. Professor Amy Cyphert, who developed the course, notes that it provides students with a background in the important concepts in the field of AI, as well as an overview of all the ways that AI is changing the practice of law. The class is so timely that Professor Cyphert builds days into the syllabus to cover all the breaking news that has happened in the field since the start of the semester. 

In a favorite moment from the spring of 2024, she was leading the class in a conversation on AI and antitrust when students started receiving breaking news announcements that the government had brought antitrust actions against Apple. Students learn about large language models like ChatGPT, hear from experts in cybersecurity, and review computer science research papers.

Originally from Roanoke, West Virginia, Melissa Giggenbach said she saw the power lawyers had to protect people's rights, especially those who are the most vulnerable in our communities, and wanted to join those lawyers whose primary goals were to help people.  

Today, as West Virginia University College of Law’s Teaching Associate Professor and Director for the West Virginia Innocence Project Clinic (WVIP), Giggenbach does just that.