Postgraduate Course: Technology Law, Innovation and Legal Practice (Practical Elective) (LAWS11505)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 5 |
ECTS Credits | 2.5 |
| Summary | This elective course on the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice provides an introduction to the key legal issues arising with the use of technology for businesses, in society and law firms as a business. Students will examine these legal issues through consideration of practical scenarios, within the broader context of the use of technology in legal practice and develop transferable skills in the field of technology law. |
| Course description |
This course provides an introduction to the key legal issues arising with the use of technology for businesses, in society and law firms as a business. Students will examine these legal issues through consideration of practical scenarios, within the broader context of the use of technology in legal practice. The course will involve consideration of a range of tools routinely used by students as part of the Diploma, as well as innovations used within legal practice to support law firms, lawyers and their clients. Students will evaluate these tools from a practical and commercial perspective and also consider the legal issues that their use may give rise to, such as those relating to software licences, cybersecurity and data protection and the legal and ethical issues of machine learning and AI. This course should be of interest to students who wish to better understand technology and how the law applies to it, as well as students who want to expand their knowledge of how lawyers can use legal technology to better support their practice and their clients and consider how legal technology might improve access to justice. This course also aims to enhance and consolidate the knowledge students have developed on the Diploma core courses, in particular Professional Skills and Responsibility.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 4 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
50
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 21,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 1,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
28 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Class performance 20%
Written opinion piece 10% - up to 350 words
Written report 40% - (approximately 1000 to 1250 words)
Group presentation - 30%
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| Feedback |
Formative assessment and feedback will be delivered as part of the learning activities students complete in their workshops. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Appreciate how technology and innovation is impacting the practice and business of law
- Analyse key legal issues in developing and using technology for business, society and legal practice
- Apply technology law to practical scenarios, including data protection, cybersecurity and contractual issues associated with software licence agreements
- Use a range of ICT applications used by lawyers and understand how innovations might meet the needs of modern lawyers and their clients
- Identify significant risks and opportunities presented by the implementation of legal technology and potential steps to mitigate against such risks and 6. Work with a team to develop and present a business case, critically analysing new innovation and technology applicable to legal practice and consider how to effect change successfully.
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Reading List
There are a number of key texts used by professionals in this area, including the following:
AI for Lawyers, Waisberg and Hudek (2021): link
Future Law (2020): L Edwards, B Schafer, E Harbinger DiscoverEd link
The LegalTech Book, Chishti, Datoo and Indjic (2020): (online access available via DiscoverEd) (published by Wiley)
LegalTech Essentials, Quarch & Engelhardt (2021): (published by SpringerGabler)
Susskind, Richard. Transforming the law: essays on technology, justice and the legal marketplace. OUP 2000.
The Course Organiser will consider further articles and texts to develop a course reading list and can discuss with the library whether any core texts might be acquired for the 2023/24 academic year.
Practical Law (PLC)
Lexis Nexis PSL (see above as the Technology Law resources are not currently available under our current licence ¿ it would be useful if we might be able to trial these to review if these might be a useful additional resource to complement PLC.)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
All elective courses on the Diploma require students to develop the
following skills:
- problem solving
- analytical thinking
- critical thinking
- independent research
- the ability to handle complexity and ambiguity
- ethics and social responsibility
- self-awareness and reflection
- independent learning and development
- creativity and inventive thinking
- decision making
- interpersonal skills
- verbal communication and presentation
- written communication
- influencing and negotiation skills
- interpersonal skills
- planning, organising and time management
- commercial / professional / situational awareness
- team working
- assertiveness and confidence
- flexibility
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| Keywords | Technology. Innovation. Legal technology. Artificial intelligence. Data. |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Hermione Hague
Tel:
Email: Hermione.Hague@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Charlotte Telfer
Tel: (01316) 508249
Email: ctelfer@ed.ac.uk |
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