Predictions, the next 50 years of technology
in legal learning
Professor Anita John
Humber College
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
A little bit about myself…
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Called to the Bar 2000
LL.M. in E-Business Law (2002)
Graduate Diploma Judicial Administration,
LL.M in Tax (in progress)
Litigation ~ prosecuted real estate agents
for cyber-squatting/registering domain
names of competitors in bad faith, diverting
customers to website (RECO)
• E-Contracts ~ Negotiated, drafted
technology procurement and outsourcing
agreements with IT vendors drafted terms
of use for website (Municipal solicitor at
City of Hamilton, Town of Markham,
Insurance Bureau of Canada)
• E-Transactions ~ Advised on privacy aspects
of online banking at Royal Bank of Canada
• Law professor at the Business School
Humber College, Toronto
Google Generation
• Students today email,
google, instant message,
text message, blog,
tweet, and update their
Facebook pages.
• Millennials are plugged
in and connected
worldwide. (Professor
Patricia Pattison, ALT
Conference)
Fitting technology into legal education
• Thinking like a lawyer
is no longer enough,
a lawyer must also
think like an
information handler
in today’s information
age. (Ben-Ishai, p.43)
• Law is not divorced
to what is happening
to society, it is
responsive.
• Law develops with
societal change.
• Technology has and
will continue to be a
catalyst on how legal
education is taught.
Is there a duty to incorporate IT in legal studies?
• Indeed the vast majority
of our incoming students
are digital natives who
expect that teaching
methods and resources
will be adapted to
commonplace tools
found in both the legal
industry and society at
large (Binford 170).
• To fulfill this duty
requires the
advancement of
teaching techniques
(Galves, p.211).
• Technology has become
increasingly central to
the practice of law.
• By incorporating
technology into legal
education, this will
better equip students for
the legal profession of
the future.
Technology in the Legal Profession
• Electronic media is transforming how lawyers, judges and
others who participate in the making and applying of law,
perform their respective functions.
• It is not unusual for a judge to bring a notebook computer to
the bench.
• It is not unusual for a lawyer to search for documents relevant
to a case or the transcript of its proceedings in digital form.
Hi-Tech Tools ~ A replacement for the Socratic method?
• “Hi-tech” tools do not
necessarily need to
replace the Socratic
method,
• but rather enhance
learning while
maintaining a traditional
classroom approach.
• Technology should not be
a replacement but an
enhancement.
• This is not a call to
abandon legal pedagogy
as we historically have
known it, but only to
incorporate it fully into
the technology age.
Display Technology
• Display technology is
broadly defined as any
computer-generated
image or text which
enhances a lecture.
• Display technology has
been considered an
invaluable educational
tool (Galves 197).
• Combining Socratic
discussions with
computer generated
visuals, videotapes, and
computer- generated
exercises helps maintain
students’ interest in the
class materials.
• Projecting a single
picture from the web to
illustrate a concept is
often all that is needed
to clarify particularly
difficult or obscure
concepts. (Lasso 44)
Vicarious Liability
TRIAL ADVOCACY
• Law professors can
encourage students in
mock trials in advocacy
courses to use display
technology which trial
lawyers use to
persuade juries,
judges, colleagues and
other legal decision
makers in various
settings (Galves 198).
• Students will be twenty
first century lawyers
who must
communicate with, and
ultimately persuade
twenty first century
judges, jurors and
attorneys all of whom
will be living in an even
more visually reliant
and technologically
oriented society
(Galves p. 212)
Display Technology used in Court
• Exhibit #2
• Madame Chair, I refer you
to power point slide,
Exhibit 2.
• You will see the injuries to
Harvey Dent’s face.
• These injuries are
consistent with having
battery acid being thrown
into Mr. Dent’s face.
Networked Learning
• Chris Jones & Sefton Bloxham have reported the use of
networked learning at Lancaster University Law School
(UK)
• In the negotiations segment of the course, each team of
students represented a “client” in a simulation of a legal
dispute with the outcome of reaching an out of court
settlement.
• Students were faced with strict deadlines for posting
statements of claim and for achieving contractually
binding settlements.
Networked Learning
• Networked learning involved communications between
student teams which were conducted by using Lotus
Notes online.
• Students reported that the course increased their skills
and helped develop confidence with computer systems,
linking the positive experience of learning technical skills
with their future employment.
Cloud-based Services ~ Google Docs
• Cloud-based services for the general public, such as
Google Docs are the familiar example of Software as a
Service (SaaS).
• Law students can use Google Docs to collaboratively work
on group assignments.
A Technological Trifecta
• In their paper, A
Technological Trifecta,
Using Videos, Playlists
and Facebook in Law
School Classes to Reach
Today Students
Professors Dionne
Anthon, Anna
Hemingway & Amanda
Smith argue that today’s
students will be better
served in class if
professors would use the
technology that students
more typically use.
• They advocate for the
addition of pop culture
videos, music playlists
and Facebook groups to
law school classes.
BCTA 100 ~ An Introduction to Canadian Law
Chapter 10 ~ IP ~ Icebreaker
• Third form of property that has gained prominence in recent
years ~ Intellectual Property
• Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks
• Property derived from the intellect or mind
• Works of art
• Musical creations
• Books
• Inventions
• Designs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKWW5-jr5Y0
Course Management Systems
• Power Points (Display
technology)
• Hyperlinks to research websites
• Full text versions linked with
secondary sources
• Course sites such Blackboard
• Legal research site: Westlaw
• Legal research site: LexisNexis
• Open courseware
• Educational gaming
• Online courses
• Video conferencing/Skype
• Social Networking
• Online Communities
• Online Quizzes
• Flipped Classrooms/Panopto
(Zoe Swan)
• Professors can impose
additional hypotheticals on
webcasts which address policy
issues,
• Professors can clarify concepts
about which students are
confused on discussion
forums.
Academic Use of E-Mail
• E-mail has become the primary means of
communication.
• E-mail discussion can continue the discussion of legal
issues outside of the classroom.
• E-mail can be also be a useful tool to support
collaborative activities such as student groups assigned
to draft agreements, facta, motions or other legal
documents.
Under Attack ~ Criticisms with respect to
technology in the classroom
• The use of technologies like display technology will
oversimplify the classroom experience (Galves p. 235)
• Technology increases student passivity and discourages
active learning (Leslie 1289).
• Learning information from screen-based media involves
cognitive practices quite different from learning the
same information from traditional printed media (Lasso
23).
Counter-attack &Defence to technology in the
classroom
• Electronic technology should be integrated in a
pedagogically sound way. The integration of
technology must have a solid base in learning
theory/learning outcomes (Lasso 23).
• Entertaining law students will learn better by
receiving information through a medium that is
more dynamic, interactive and creative than
printed text.
• Millennials/digital slaves/students will also
expect that technology be used in their
education.
Technology Trends in Practice of Law
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Email in Electronic Discovery
Cloud Computing
Online research
Trial Advocacy
Online Transactions/Electronic Contracts
Email: Client communication & discovery
Client Communication
• It is predicted that law
students will contact
clients via email or text
instead of corresponding
with letters on fancy
letterhead.
Litigation/Discovery
• 90% of cases filed never
reach trial.
• This phenomena has been
called the “vanishing trial.”
• A technological-driven
aspect of discovery is that
electronic documents such
as email are examined.
• It is now in discovery that
most cases are won or lost.
• eDiscovery equates to the
the biggest new skill ever
thrust upon the profession
(Thomson, 53).
Law office technology
• Cloud computing –
requires less IT
infrastructure and
frees up office space
by moving data storage
to internet-based
servers
• These technologies
also enable lawyers to
work from anywhere,
not just the office,
because they can
access files via the
internet.
• The internet has made
filing paperwork for
court deadlines &
meeting clients via
Skype a whole lot
easier
Landscape of Legal Research has changed
• It is predicted that Print collections in law libraries will
shrink while online databases grow (Margolis 110).
• Students should supplement legal research with internet
research.
• At the very least, Westlaw and LexisNexis will be used to
update and locate recent authority.
• Judges are increasingly citing information found on the
web (Margolis, 85). This trend is driven by their ready
availability and accessibility online.
• The rapid growth in citations to controversial sources
such as Wikipedia and legal blogs in court judgments
appears to support this contention (Margolis, 86).
Blogs in Legal Judgments
• Blogs are an online resource covering a broad array of
legal subjects from tips on maintaining a solo law practice
to theoretical legal scholarship.
• Blogs are popular among law professors, as a place to
engage in scholarly discussion about the law.
• The blogs cover every legal topic imaginable and judges
are reading them an citing them in judicial opinions
(Margolis, 116).
TRIAL ADVOCACY
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
• Trial lawyers who use
visual aids know that the
use of display technology
is an integral part of
persuasive advocacy.
• Examples of display
technology include:
computer animations,
videotaped dispositions,
power point presentations
which teach and persuade
juries, judges and
colleagues in a very
effective way
• The trend is for that usage
to keep growing.
Apps
• Lawyers have been using
app formats that make it
easier to use in court at
an examination for
discovery .
iJuror ~iPad, Android & Windows 8
• Used in jury selection.
• iJuror assists in the
information intake
process of voir dire.
• It was designed by
lawyers
• It allows advanced notetaking .
• It creates customized jury
panels.
Air Sketch
• Witnesses can draw on
images, x-rays, &
documents at trial and
in examinations for
discovery.
• A witness is shown the
iPad with the selected
exhibit loaded.
• The witness can select
a colour from the
palette in the app and
use a finger or a stylus
to draw on the iPad as
he or she testifies.
• The app’s snapshot
feature permits a user
to draw on a series of
images to be
introduced as exhibits
and then played back
picture by picture,
giving the effect of an
animation – useful
feature in personal
injury lawsuits.
Trial Pad & Exhibit A
Trial Pad
Exhibit A
• A lawyer can bring an
iPad to the podium and
connect it to the
projector or television.
• To annotate, the lawyer
clicks on the exhibit to
be presented and draws
on the screen.
• It allows highlighting,
callouts, laser pointers,
and freehand drawing as
well as saving
annotations for later
display.
Next 50 years ~ IT Law Programs Needed
• In his Law Times article,
dated May 3, 2004,
Shortage of IT experts
squeezes law schools,
Duncan Card argues
that there’s a huge
need for highly
specialized IT lawyers
who have both legal
and business
knowledge/experience
in IT transactions.
• Duncan Card, a
leading Canadian
e-business lawyer,
wants more law
schools to set up IT
law programs and
work with law
firms to train new
lawyers in the field.
Next 50 years ~ E-Business Law
• Strategic commercial transactions, including facilities
management and outsourcing services
• Data management and protection
• Technology procurement
• Enterprise software projects
• Commercial and corporate joint ventures
• E-commerce and internet business strategies
• Commercial structures
• Offshore and international transactions technology
intensive turnkey projects
• All related technology development and
commercialization transactions
Closing Remarks ~ Law students should be ebusiness minded
• Students should be e-business minded as they enter
into legal profession
• By studying and applying that some of the tasks that
lawyers and judges do, future and present , students
will gain insight into emerging technologies at the
centre of modern legal practice.
• Students also develop core competencies across a
range of new and traditional lawyering skills.
Closing Remarks ~ Thinking Outside of the Box
• Students should have a good handle of existing
technology and social media.
• The legal profession is constantly looking to innovate
and to take advantage of these new technologies.
• As legal professionals (professors, lawyers, law
students) we must think outside of the box and try
to understand new ways of delivering legal
education and legal services.
CLOSING REMARKS
• Technology is never a panacea.
It won’t make our laws more
just, nor will it make lawyers
more ethical or collegial.
• But it is a valuable tool: a tool
for making ourselves more
efficient and more competent;
• a tool for making the legal
system more accessible;
• and a tool for making the legal
profession easier on the legal
professional.
• -Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,
The Role of Technology in the
Legal Profession Law Practice
Management March 1994 at
24, 26
Sources Cited
• Anthon, Dionne et al. “A Technological Trifecta: Using Videos,
Playlists, and Facebook in Law School Classes to Reach Today’s
Students”
• Ben-Ishai, Stephanie. “Thinking about Technology in Canadian
Law Schools: A Literature Review” (2007) Canadian Legal
Education Annual Review 37.
• Binford, W. Warren H. “Envisioning a 21st Century Legal
Education” (2013) 43 Journal of Law & Policy 157.
• Bloxham, Sefton & Jones Chris. “Networked Legal Learning: An
Evaluation of the Student Learning Experience” (2001) 15(3)
International Review of Law Computers & Tech 317.
• Bourrie, Mark. “Shortage of IT experts squeezes law schools”
Law Times, May 3, 2004.
• Galves, Fred. “ Will Video Kill the Radio Star? Visual learning and
the use of display technology in the law school classroom”
(2004) 2 U. Ill. J.L. Tech & Policy 195.
Sources Cited
• Lasso, Rogelio. “From the Paper Chase to the Digital Chase:
Technology and the Challenge of Teaching 21st Century Law
Students” (2002) 43 Santa Clara L. Rev. 1.
• Margolis, Ellie. “Surfin’ Safari – Why competent lawyers
should research on the web” (2007) 10 Yale L.J. & Tech. 82.
• Oliphant, Robert E. “Using ‘Hi-tech’ Tools in a Traditional
Classroom Environment – A Two-Semester Experiment (20022003) 9(2) Rich. J. Law & Tech 358.
• Tad Thomas et al. “Going mobile: thanks to a slew of lawyerfriendly apps for tablet computers, any lawyer can go
completely mobile – and have everything needed for his or
her law practice in hand.” (2012) Trial. 30.
• Thomson, David I.C. Law School 2.0 Legal Education for a
Digital Age Newark: Lexis Nexis 2009.
• Online:http://s3.amazonaws.com/DBM/M3/2011/Downloads/
RHL_2012FutureLawOffice.pdf