I was ecstatic when I was offered the opportunity to design and teach an online legal technology course. I have loved technology as long as I can remember. I was six the first time I “helped” my father build a computer. However, I am aware not everyone was exposed to tech and the idea that this current generation is no better at technology than the last, at least according to science. In fact, quite a few law students I engage with find technology a bit intimidating. The first step in preparing this course was to temper my excitement and focus on what it was the students needed and potentially wanted from this course.
To do this, I wrote a list of every possible thing I could think of that fell under the umbrella of legal technology. If I was to discern what the objectives of this course were, I needed to visualize the full landscape. I reviewed other syllabi and read a few articles to expand my list. Some overlap and some are subsets of others, but this list made sure I did not forget some facet at this early stage. This is my list (in no particular order):
- Information literacy
- Knowledge management
- Practice management software
- SAAS
- Cloud-based software
- Office Suite
- Client communication
- Privacy
- Security
- Artificial intelligence
- Research tools
- Blockchain & smart contracts
- Data mining
- Data analytics
- Evidence management
- Presentation software
- e-Discovery
- Technology-assisted Review
- Encryption
- Tech competency requirements
- Electronic evidence capture & verification
- Metadata
- Continued legal education options
- Mobile lawyering
- Access to justice technologies
- Image and optical character recognition
- chatbots
- courtroom technology
Step 2: Decide on course objectives