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LAA250
Foundations in LegalTech
The module provides an introduction to key technologies, commonly referred to as `LegalTech¿, that are increasingly used in the legal industry and in the justice system, specifically to help law firms perform tasks faster and more accurately and to facilitate access to justice for citizens. The module is intended to prepare students for the key challenges and opportunities arising from the application of emerging digital technologies to the law. The module illustrates the technical basics of key emerging technologies (including machine learning, explainable AI, and blockchain), while addressing their pros and cons, legal and ethical challenges, risks and opportunities. It does so through critical engagement with LegalTech use cases, encompassing a broad range of applications, such as the provision of legal services to children and young people, access to primary legislation, and the use of LegalTech in the regulation of online content, among others. This module does not require the students to have any specific technical background or prior knowledge of the topic.
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LAA357
Foundations in LegalTech
The module provides an introduction to key technologies, commonly referred to as `LegalTech¿, that are increasingly used in the legal industry and in the justice system, specifically to help law firms perform tasks faster and more accurately and to facilitate access to justice for citizens. The module is intended to prepare students for the key challenges and opportunities arising from the application of emerging digital technologies to the law. The module illustrates the technical basics of key emerging technologies (including machine learning, explainable AI, and blockchain), while addressing their pros and cons, legal and ethical challenges, risks and opportunities. It does so through critical engagement with LegalTech use cases, encompassing a broad range of applications, such as the provision of legal services to children and young people, access to primary legislation, and the use of LegalTech in the regulation of online content, among others. This module does not require the students to have any specific technical background or prior knowledge of the topic.
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LAAM19
Artificial Intelligence and Law - Principles
The module is an introduction to some of the principles and techniques of Artificial Intelligence as applied to legal information such as legislation, case law, and contracts. Students will learn some of the key elements of AI including logic, knowledge representation, natural language processing, and machine learning. Students will gain theoretical knowledge about AI systems to understand how they are used to analyse, represent, and process legal information.
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LAAM35
Artificial Intelligence and Law - Applications
The module introduces the students to IT technologies that may be concretely employed in the current LegalTech market. Special attention will be devoted to Semantic Web technologies for the legal domain, such as LegalDocML and RDF/OWL. These technologies have recently gained attention both in academia, industry, and standardization bodies. IT technologies based on semantics represent the path to explainability, which has been deemed by many as a desirable feature of next-generation AI technologies, in particular for LegalTech applications. The module also aims to encourage students to identify new use cases, which could be interesting for the current LegalTech industry and which could even set the ground for a future start-up project plan.
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LAAM37
Contemporary Issues in LegalTech
LegalTech is revolutionising the way in which legal services are designed and delivered all around the world. New technologies are introduced at a very fast pace, with existing ones evolving rapidly in response to increased market demand. Regulators and policy-makers constantly introduce new and amended regulations to accompany the technological evolution, while courts deal with complex questions of interpretation and application of existing and new frameworks of law to legal technologies. Law firms and start-ups introduce new legal services based on LegalTech innovation, driving a transformation of the legal sector that has a profound impact on our society.
This module seeks to explore the most cutting-edge issues that accompany such transformation, analysing current developments, related to the introduction of new technologies, amended or new regulations and relevant case law. It aims to contextualise such changes, providing a basis for future research, and to encourage a critical discussion on their significance and impact, predicting future trends and further developments. The module also seeks to help students develop skills that are becoming increasingly important for LegalTech professionals, for example in relation to entrepreneurship, ethics and interdisciplinarity.
The module will offer a mix of different learning opportunities, with research-based lectures, practical workshops, seminars, guest lectures and talks with LegalTech professionals. This variety reflects the nature of the LegalTech field, where academic research sits alongside practical implementation, with innovation taking place in the diverse environments of law firms, start-ups, universities, legal innovation laboratories and more.
The assessment offers students a chance to reflect critically on the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the year, to carry out research on a LegalTech development of interest and to communicate such research in a presentation and blog post. This will allow students to develop important professional skills, including in research and communication, helping them become well-informed, engaged and responsible LegalTech professionals.
