| Unit name | Digital Technology in Legal Practice |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LAWDM0164 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Janecek |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None. |
| School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
Across the globe, legal systems are entering a period of profound transformation brought on by innovative technologies and alternative business models. This has significant impacts also on the legal profession.
Such LawTech developments promise to reduce the costs of legal services and increase access to justice. At the same time, however, they challenge long-standing (and often implicit) beliefs behind the functioning of our legal system, jurisprudence, and practice of law more generally.
The aim of this unit is to provide established and aspiring legal professionals with an in-depth understanding of LawTech innovation from legal, technological, economic, as well as ethical perspectives. You will understand the frontiers of AI in legal reasoning, as well as new business models behind tech-enhanced legal services. You will gain confidence to evaluate, procure, and deploy best-in-class digital technologies in your future practice without compromising the integrity of our legal system and without breaching any professional standard as a lawyer.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
‘Digital Technology in Legal Practice’ is a core unit on the LLM in Law, Innovation and Technology programme. In contrast to other units, ‘Digital Technology in Legal Practice’ focuses more on how digital technology can enhance legal practice rather than on how the law needs to respond to digital technology (tech for law, rather than law for tech).
An overview of content
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
You will become confident in identifying the key challenges concerning the deployment of digital technology in legal practice. You will understand enough of a technical detail to propose well-reasoned and practicable solutions to these challenges or to assess solutions proposed by experts from other disciplines (especially data and computer scientists). You are thus likely to bring long-term value to your prospective employer or business. Owing to your solid orientation in the relevant regulatory landscape, you will be able to identify new ways of working for lawyers whilst maintaining the legal and ethical standards that are vital for the legal profession at large. You will develop your project management and planning skills, commercial awareness, and (through group presentations) teamwork abilities. As a result of the unit, you will be well-positioned to pursue a career of a legal technologist, for example, and thus become the first port of call when it comes to explaining the core concepts, issues, and solutions to other lawyers as well.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, you will be able to:
The unit will be taught across the academic year, and students can expect to have learning activities scheduled or planned for a minimum of 20 weeks. Teaching will include learning activities including lectures, small group work, discussions, individual tasks, and in-seminar presentations. These learning sessions can be on campus or online, and both synchronous or asynchronous.
The unit will also require directed and self-directed learning, which will include activities such as reading materials included in the unit’s reading list, accessing web-based supplementary materials, critical analysis, completion of tasks for in-seminar presentation, and completion of assessments.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Formative 1 – A group presentation.
Just before the Christmas Vacation period, students will prepare a group presentation (10 min) in which they will present a case study concerning recent LawTech practice and identify its main challenges. As part of this formative task, students will be expected to identify not only legal, but also ethical, economic, and conceptual challenges of the
selected LawTech practice. A short training regarding the presentation format will be provided at the beginning of Teaching Block 1. At that time, students will be allocated to their groups (groups will have up to 5 students).
Feedback will be provided immediately after the group presentation to make sure that all students are prepared to develop their presentation into a first summative task which is due at the end of Teaching Block 1 (see below).
Formative 2 – An essay.
The second formative task will be an independent essay (up to 1,500 words) set in Teaching Block 1. This coursework, which will be due before the beginning of Teaching Block 2, will be similar in structure to the second summative assessment (see below). The essay will require a critical assessment of the selected topic, drawing on relevant legal and academic sources. This is intended to provide an opportunity to practice essay writing and academic research skills ahead of the summative with individual detailed written feedback on the marking criteria and general oral feedback on the formatives provided to the group as a whole).
Additionally, formative tasks will come in many forms such as informal questioning, quizzes and group exercises in lectures, seminars, and asynchronous activities in the virtual learning platform.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
2 x 3,000-word coursework, submitted respectively at the ends of Teaching Blocks 1 and 2.
Summative 1 (50% of the overall mark).
Building on their group presentation, students will write up a hypothetical client memorandum in which they will:
This assessment will be due at the end of Teaching Block 1 (late January). The full memorandum (excluding the executive summary) will be up to 3,000 words long (ILOs 1 - 4).
Summative 2 (50% of the overall mark).
The second main summative task will be an independent essay (up to 3,000 words) on a topic from the syllabus. The essay will require a critical assessment of the selected topic, drawing on relevant legal and academic sources. This assessment will be due at the end of Teaching Block 2 (early May) (ILOs 1 - 4).
When assessment does not go to plan
Should a student fail to pass an overall mark of 50% on their first attempt, they will be invited to submit a new 3,000- word essay (Summative 2) but with a different question assigned.
If the formative group presentation does not go to plan, students will be assigned a specific case study for their memorandum by the unit coordinator before the Christmas Vacation period.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit in the usual way.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. LAWDM0164).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
