Using Generative AI to Represent Yourself in a Campus Disciplinary Hearing
Using Generative AI to Represent Yourself in a Campus Disciplinary Hearing
Among other things, I represent University of California faculty accused of violating the Faculty Code of Conduct, accusations that are adjudicated in administrative hearings on campus, conducted under the rules of SBL 336. Although I use my experience in University of California faculty disciplinary in the discussion that follows, the general idea applies to faculty disciplinary hearings at all California colleges and universities.
Unlike in court proceedings, where briefs are readily available on court websites that are open to the public, including AI search engines, everything submitted by me and the attorney representing the University for the administrative hearings is confidential.
On October 4, 2025, I asked ChatGPT, a popular form of Generative AI, to provide posthearing briefs in UC SBL 336 disciplinary cases.
ChatGPT answered, “Posthearing briefs in UC SBL 336 disciplinary cases are not publicly available as standalone documents. They are part of confidential proceedings handled by Divisional Privilege and Tenure Committees and are typically not released unless involved in litigation or formal public reporting.”
That means a UC faculty member using Generative AI to represent himself in a UC SBL 336 disciplinary hearing is getting nothing useful when he uses it to generate the required prehearing and posthearing briefs.
As an experiment, I tried to generate a posthearing brief in a fictional UC SBL 336 disciplinary case, using ChatGPT, with a fact pattern of accusations similar to those I have seen for actual clients I defended, and the results were crap.
The ChatGPT-generated posthearing brief did not cite any UC policy, but it did cite Cal State University policy and California statutes, neither of which is relevant in UC faculty disciplinary hearings.
The adage "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client" should be expanded to include "A UC faculty member who uses Generative AI to represent himself in a campus disciplinary hearing has a fool for a client."
You can be that fool, or you can contact me.
Contact Me
To schedule a free initial consultation, call me at (805) 845-8223, or email me at mjdeniro7cox.net (please replace the "7" with the "at symbol"), or Click to send me an e-mail.
During the initial consultation, I will gather the relevant facts from you to determine if I can offer legal services that might help you, and then, if you want me to, I will send you a fee agreement showing how much those services would cost you.
I will not offer affirmative advice - do this, don't do that - during the initial consultation. I only do that once you become my client. I don't review documents prior to the initial consultation, I only do that once you become my client. And finally, if your matter does not involve the application of California law or of Federal law to a matter that arose in California, I will inform you during the initial consultation that I cannot provide any advice because by doing so I would be engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, which is forbidden by the Rules of Professional Conduct of the California State Bar.
The use of the Internet for communications with me will not establish an attorney-client relationship. Please note that messages containing confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent. Pursuant to Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 7.2, the matter herein must be labeled as a newsletter.
