David Ziff
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djsziff.bsky.social
David Ziff
@djsziff.bsky.social
Teaching Professor, University of Washington School of Law #LegalWriting
My stuff: https://linktr.ee/djsziff
Reposted by David Ziff
“No evidence the intent went beyond freeing slaves” — the framers of the amendment openly stated that it would grant citizenship to the children of Chinese immigrants. It’s in the Congressional record. Cited extensively in Wong Kim Ark. These aren’t obscure sources, especially for law professors.
December 7, 2025 at 7:13 PM
And the defense argument....
December 5, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Reposted by David Ziff
"[A]n LLM does not reason in the way a litigant must. To put it in a slightly different way, LLMs do not perform the metacognitive processes that are necessary to comply with Rule 11."

This gets at a problem I have with the use of generative A.I. The process is the point!
#LegalWriting
/fin
December 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by David Ziff
A lawyer's overstating of a case's holding might be permissible because the lawyer "could, perhaps, reason their way to showing how a case's stated holding might extend to novel situations." But an A.I.'s strained summary of a holding does not do that!
#LegalWriting
2/
December 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Sure. But I've always thought that said more about the value and nature of 1L issue spotters.
December 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I at least appreciate the judge cited a source! Do you have a recommendation for a good not-overly technical but still not "it's a magic box so you can't understand it" explainer of how these current LLM AIs are closer to reasoning? It's hard to stay up to date!
December 4, 2025 at 6:34 AM
He's attempting the Col. Jessup "I did my job, I'd do it again" and "You're G— D— right I did!" defense.
December 4, 2025 at 6:30 AM
I want to think about that comparison some more. I think letting a bunch of 1L interns write something without checking it would obviously be bad. I know you agree. The Q I have is whether it would save time to have the student do a draft, then review/revise? My guess is... No?
December 3, 2025 at 11:38 PM
December 3, 2025 at 10:44 PM
"[A]n LLM does not reason in the way a litigant must. To put it in a slightly different way, LLMs do not perform the metacognitive processes that are necessary to comply with Rule 11."

This gets at a problem I have with the use of generative A.I. The process is the point!
#LegalWriting
/fin
December 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM
A lawyer's overstating of a case's holding might be permissible because the lawyer "could, perhaps, reason their way to showing how a case's stated holding might extend to novel situations." But an A.I.'s strained summary of a holding does not do that!
#LegalWriting
2/
December 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Those were good times.
December 3, 2025 at 3:47 AM
I hate this. I grew up in Minnesota, Target's home, and had an allegiance to Target. Felt like they had good values and gave back to education/schools in the community. Now they are just another bad online retailer with crappy corporate values. Not sure how they get me (and others) back?
December 1, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Also withstood the rare self-facemask.
December 1, 2025 at 12:02 AM