The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School announced last week that it received a gift to support advancements in technology and artificial intelligence.
The Perry and Donna Golkin Family Foundation donated an undisclosed amount to fund the school’s Technology, Regulation, AI, and the Law initiative, which focuses on providing a legal education adapted to rapidly changing technologies. According to a Sept. 28 announcement, the gift will be split to advance research and scholarship and to establish a new Dean’s Innovation Fund.
TRAIL is a Penn Carey Law initiative that connects the school’s curriculum, experiential learning, and faculty research in emerging technological areas. The gift acted as a “catalyst” for its mission, according to the announcement.
The research and scholarship funding will be realized through the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition, which aims to help scholars advance technology-related policy and legal frameworks.
CTIC faculty co-director Polk Wagner described the TRAIL initiative as an effort to integrate technology into legal education across the school in an interview.
“The rise of generative AI will have a significant impact in the way that law is practiced in the future,” he said, adding that Penn and its peer institutions need to figure out a way to train students and faculty about “this new era of legal practice.”
Wagner compared Penn to other universities, saying that it has “a coherent, unified program” that aims to focus on this project.
“We are integrating law and technology — including AI, but not limited to AI — in a way that’s much more in depth and comprehensive than what any of our peers are doing,” he added.
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The dean’s fund will aim to provide broad resources across Penn Carey Law for initiatives rooted in law and technology.
In the press release, Penn President Larry Jameson wrote that the “Golkins’ generosity has long played a critical role in strengthening Penn’s leadership in transformative legal education, and their gift will allow us to remain at the forefront of law and technology.”
The gift is in line with other recent changes to the school’s academic curriculum. Penn Carey Law is offering 13 new and returning courses related to law and technology during the 2026-27 academic year, as well as a recently launched Certificate of Study in AI and Law offered jointly with the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Initially, only law students will be eligible to pursue the certificate. On-campus Engineering graduate students will become eligible for the distinction in the 2027-28 academic year, according to a press release.
