UNSW Law Mini-Curriculum Review Report on Technology and the Law School Curriculum

Abstract

The MCR recommendations/findings are that: 1. The Law School add to the 8 existing cross-cutting themes that were adopted in response to the 2010-2013 Curriculum Review a further theme: “technological innovation and its impact on legal practice, law and society”. This is to encourage all academic staff to consider how technology may affect the content of their existing courses. 2. The Associate Dean – Education (a) investigate the availability of resources to assist core course convenors to address the new cross-cutting theme in core courses; and (b) fund a project officer to liaise with core course convenors to obtain information as to how the new cross-cutting theme is addressed in core courses. 3. The project officer report to the Associate Dean – Education on how each core course addresses the new cross-cutting theme by August 2018. The Associate Dean – Education to report these findings to the Qualifying Degrees Committee. 4. The Law School currently offers a range of outstanding courses that address the legal, ethical and policy issues presented by the use of technology in business, government and society. However there are some gaps in the UNSW Law offerings that may be addressed through new electives that should be developed in a coordinated manner amongst law school academics. 5. The Law School offer (or continue to offer) the following technology related electives: • Law Apps course – addressed through LAWS3196 / JURD7596 “Designing Technology Solutions for Access to Justice” which was offered for the first time in semester 2, 2017. • Startup Law – no course at present. • FinTech and RegTech - UNSW Law will offer LAWS8174 Financial Law and Regulation in the Age of FinTech to postgraduate and JD students in 2018. • Legal Practice, Ethics and Technology course - no course at present. • Introduction to Coding / Introduction to Computer Programming - no course at present. 6. The Law School recognise that the advent of technology also requires the development of other skills, which in turn requires opportunities within the law curriculum for students to obtain those skills, namely: • Emotional Intelligence – as part of courses requiring collaboration and group work. • Legal Project Management – as part of clinics and internships, but possibly also as a postgraduate course. • Legal Analytics – as part of existing courses dealing with technology or as an elective course. 7. The Law School work with the student Law Society and other student groups to support extra-curricular activities that develop skills and experience with technology and related areas. In particular, a Law hackathon should be institutionalized. 8. The Law School and its academic staff adopt an approach of continuous improvement in relation to the inclusion of technology and contemporary examples of contexts in the curriculum through the continued, incremental enhancement and development of courses to take account of rapid technological change. 9. The Law School provide opportunities for academic staff to learn about technological developments that impact their areas of teaching.