R. Polk Wagner

AI is changing how law is practiced, taught, and understood — and legal education needs to keep up. I've spent the last few years working to make sure Penn Law is out in front of this shift. Not with hype and not with fear, but with the kind of practical, hands-on engagement that actually helps faculty, students, and the institution.

That work now sits within TRAIL — Technology, Regulation, AI, and the Law — the law school's initiative connecting curriculum, experiential learning, and faculty research on the technologies reshaping law, work, and society. TRAIL launched in September 2026 with a leadership gift from the Perry and Donna Golkin Family Foundation, and it's a major part of my portfolio as Deputy Dean.

One major aspect of the build-and-apply side of TRAIL is the Penn Carey Law AI Project, which I direct. It's where the tools, training, and applied research get made: an AI exam grader, a casebook builder, a virtual teaching assistant bound to a single course's materials, and a study of whether current AI can pass real Penn Carey Law finals when graded on the class curve by the faculty who wrote them. Everything is open source by default and built for the people who will actually use it — students, faculty, judges, and practicing lawyers.

Some of it reaches the bench, too. Through the PennLaw–Judiciary AI Testbed, I work with judges and their chambers — in the Third Circuit, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the District of New Jersey, and the Delaware Court of Chancery — on the practical use of AI tools, with structured access, training, and regular feedback. What we've learned there feeds the Judicial AI Portal, a plain-language public guide for judges and chambers staff on use cases, risks, and guardrails.

On the concrete side, I maintain two open portals for faculty: pedagogy resources — a single place for guidance, policies, and examples on exams, grading, AI, and accommodations — and an AI resources hub covering tools, use cases, policies, and agentic-AI guidance. This fall we launched a Certificate of Study in AI and Law, developed jointly with Penn Engineering. We've also brought professional-grade AI tools directly into the law school — Harvey and Legora for legal work, a Claude seat for every 1L, and enterprise Claude and ChatGPT available to faculty and staff — and the Madhani Legal Tech Fellowship supports students doing innovative work in legal technology.

My view on all of this is pretty straightforward: faculty should be using these tools, not avoiding them. The students already are. The practicing bar already is. Legal education can either lead or react — and I'd rather we lead.

When I'm not at the law school, I'm usually on or near the water. I've been racing sailboats since college — I was on the varsity sailing team at the College of Charleston and was named ICSA All-American Crew in 1990 — and I've never really stopped.

These days I race a Melges 15, a Laser (ILCA), and a J/70 — mostly out of Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, Michigan. On the M15 circuit, I finished 2nd in the Masters Division at the 2025 U.S. National Championship. In the J/70 class, I served on the International Executive Committee and as Technical Chair from 2016 to 2023, and placed 5th in the Corinthian Division at the 2019 North American Championship. I've been competitive in the Harbor Springs Laser fleet and the LTYC J/70 fleet for years, with multiple season wins in both.

I've completed 20 Chicago-Mackinac Races and 15 Bayview-Mackinac Races. In 2021, our team on the J/111 No Surprise won the Mackinac Cup — the overall prize for the Chicago race — with additional class wins in 2018 and 2022. I've also won class in the Queen's Cup aboard the J/111 Striking Back in 2023 and 2024.

Off the water, I've served as a World Sailing International Measurer and have completed the US Sailing Principal Race Officer course. I served as Rear Commodore of Little Traverse Yacht Club from 2018 to 2020, and as President of Little Traverse Sailors from 2016 to 2019.