Legal Futures and Technology Major

Increasingly, technology is part of everyday legal practise as it

evolves and advances.

Technology is also an integral part of our legal future.

This series of videos is designed to provide more

information about the legal futures and technology major

that is available for undergraduate law students at

UTS.

This should help you understand more about the major and plan so

that you are able to meet the eligibility requirements to

complete the major.

It will also give you more information about the technology

law subjects that are available for all undergraduate law

students at UTS.

Technology is disrupting the practise of law.

Recently, generative AI tools have presented challenges and

opportunities for the legal profession,

but this is only one of many challenges and opportunities

that we have already encountered and we expect to encounter in

the future.

AI has already been accepted as a tool that can aid legal

research and discovery and document generation.

But generative AI expands the potential role of technology in

legal practise along with the potential for its misuse.

At the same time, data analytics can protect legal outcomes or

assess causes of action in disputes and negotiations.

These tools need to be used thoughtfully by lawyers to

minimise risk and ensure ethical practise.

Lawyers also increasingly encounter new types of

technology that require regulation. From smart contracts

to cryptocurrency to NFTS,

the major helps you to understand how all parts of your

legal education can be relevant to these questions of legal

technology. This understanding is critical as lawyers encounter

or participate in virtual legal services and are asked to advise

on them.

The major recognises that increasingly, clients are

demanding more than traditional knowledge and skills from

lawyers.

Expectations are shifting and lawyers play a key role in the

regulation and management of technology, including the

ethical dimensions of technology.

Legal professionals have an opportunity to partner with

clients and experts across a range of disciplines in order to

address modern challenges. By developing innovative solutions

in the legal Futures and technology major, we provide you

with many of the skills that you will need to address these

challenges. At UTS,

we have drawn on the deep knowledge and understanding of

technology in our lower faculty and across the university to

launch the first legal technology focused major, the

UTS Law, legal Futures and technology major.

The introduction of the major in  followed extensive research

and industry consultation.

This research highlighted the critical importance of providing

our law students with skills to address ongoing technological

disruption and understand its impact on the legal profession.

Even in five years, the need for these skills has intensified

with the development of new technology that challenges the

role of legal professionals.

The course subjects in the major include hands on real world

technology coursework to help our students develop and hone

these skills.

Students have opportunities to undertake legal internships with

the legal futures and technology focus that helps students to

develop relevant practical skills when they encounter legal

problems related to technology.

These skills include project management and effective group

work

and communication.

Students undertaking the major are highly competitive in the

legal jobs market and the skills they learn compliment other law

faculty programmes including Mooting and the Aliens. NEOTA

Logic UTS Law Tech Challenge

Students undertaking the major have the opportunity to learn

from a range of experts in the field.

On this slide you can see the academics who teach the core

subjects of the Major.

Doctor Genevieve Wilkinson teaches the first capstone

subject, Professor David Lindsay teaches the nd capstone

subject, and Doctor Ivana Wright teaches disruptive technologies.

These academics are joined by other experts who teach a range

of electives available as part of the major.

Students have diverse opportunities to learn from

these experts in different fields where technology is

important, including intellectual property, media and

digital platforms.

Our students are also able to undertake honours research

theses supervised by these academics on diverse topics.

All of these subjects equip our students to learn from experts

about how they can manage a legal future where technology

plays a critical role.

In this video, I will talk to you about subjects that comprise

the compulsory subjects in the major, noting that you're also

required to choose two other approved electives.

In all, the major consists of five subjects totaling  credit

points. It's therefore important to make sure that you have 

credit points available to enrol in the major.

There are two compulsory capstone subjects, Capstone 

and Capstone .

The Capstones are designed to bring together much of what

you've you've learnt in your law degree and to expand on it with

a technology focus.

As your third subject, you have a choice between an elective

disruptive technologies and the law and a local internship

including the Law Tech Clinic.

It's usual and advisable for students to complete the

disruptive technologies elective before studying Capstone One, as

what you learn in the elective will help you with the capstone

subjects.

Finally, you must choose two other electives from a range of

approved technology law electives, which includes

subjects such as intellectual property law, media law,

workplace health and safety, and regulating technologies.

The first of the capstone subjects is technology, law,

policy and ethics.

This subject explores the policy and ethical issues that arise in

light of the significant impact that technology is having on the

world, and the role of lawyers in shaping policy and protecting

the vulnerable.

Lawyers need to be adaptive and technically capable. In response

to these impacts, and in line with UTS philosophy, it's

important for students to understand the ethical

implications of new and emerging technologies.

Ethical and policy issues arising from innovative

technology pose new threats to our freedoms, privacy and

security, but also opportunities to use technologies to find

solutions to some of the world's great problems.

Technology also offers an opportunity to resolve some of

the United Nations problems in achieving its Sustainable

Development Goals.

This subject engages with changes and challenges resulting

from technological developments that could be addressed by the

law, including emerging legal technology which can erode the

possibility for human review and oversight, and technology that

enables governments and private organisations to monitor our

moves and listen to our conversations.

The second capstone subject is the Applied project in Law,

Innovation and Technology.

This is a practically oriented subject in which students use

legal project management skills to solve real world technology

law problems in innovative ways.

In this subject, students work in teams to solve problems for

clients over a full semester and are required to present

solutions to clients and produce a final research report

throughout the semester. Students learn skills in legal,

project management, legal operations, researching

technology law and in teamwork.

In addition, the subject introduces students to legal

technologies and, importantly, how technology is changing the

practise of law.

The projects students have worked on in past years have

included technology law projects involving generative AI, the

energy sector,

fintech, smart cities and agritech.

Working on projects such as these is a great opportunity to

get up to speed in rapidly evolving areas of the law that

will continue to be important.

In addition to the two capstone subjects, students enrolled in

the major must complete either the disruptive technologies

elective or the local internship.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, the

Internet of Things, cryptocurrencies, smart

contracts, fintech and legal tech post fundamental challenges

for law and regulation.

That said, the law often lags behind technology.

The challenges of disruptive technologies mean that

technology lawyers must be advanced problem solvers,

including being able to advise clients about the application of

laws that are not fit for purpose and in contributing to

policy debates about how to regulate new technologies.

This subject equips students with the essential tools needed

to understand how existing laws apply to new and emerging

technologies and to contribute to debates about law reform.

This includes providing the necessary foundation in areas of

the law, such as intellectual property and data privacy law.

As you might imagine, given the subject matter, the material

covered in the subject varies from year to year in response to

topical issues.

Students that do not enrol in disruptive technologies have the

option of completing a local internship with a technology

focus.

The internship provides students with the opportunity to obtain

practical legal experience and develop professional skills

through working with a local host organisation.

It involves participation in an internship for  weeks during

the teaching session and involves placement at a legal

service provider.

From . Students can also enrol in the Law Tech Clinic,

which is delivered in partnership with BOTL and Lander

and Rogers.

The clinic includes A seminar programme delivered by experts

in legal technology, as well as working over the semester on a

low tech project under the supervision of partners at

Lander and Rogers, which involves developing a practical

solution such as a chat bot or an app.

One of the requisite choices in the major is the subject

disruptive technologies and the law.

This subject covers the impact that disruptive technologies are

having on the type of work that lawyers do and the way that they

do it.

There are three powerful forces at play in this space.

First, modern technology is changing the way that society

does business and the way that we relate to each other. As a

consequence, technology is changing the way that different

types of relationships break down and how laws are broken.

Second, lawyers are confronted by a need to find new and better

ways to manage and make sense of huge quantities of digital

information and electronic correspondence. And finally,

regulators and legal professionals are struggling to

keep pace with innovation.

This subject explores these three themes and covers a wide

range of topics including a brief history of how disruptive

technologies have and will continue to impact the law,

the regulation of data and privacy in a big data world,

artificial intelligence and autonomous machines such as self

driving cars,

blockchain technologies including smart contracts and

cryptocurrencies,

digital platforms,

connected devices such as smart speakers and other Internet of

Things devices, and finally the interaction between technology

and the legal profession and the professional obligations we have

as lawyers in relation to the effective and ethical use of

technology.

More than ever before lawyers need to be problem solvers. They

need to be adaptive and technically capable. Tech

fluency should be part of every law. Graduates Armoury and This

subject enhances these attributes.

In addition to Capstone and Capstone  and your requisite

choice, students are required to select two elective subjects to

complete the major. There are a range of elective options

available to students undertaking the major, and you

are encouraged to check the handbook for the most up-to-date

list.

Electives cover a wide range of topics relevant to technology,

including the protection of innovation and creativity under

intellectual property law, how data may be used under relevant

privacy and data protection regulations,

media law and the regulation of digital platforms, and important

questions such as why and how we should regulate technology in

general.

The requisite options, including disruptive technologies in the

law and local internship, are also available as electives, so

students can undertake both options should they choose.

And finally, those students who were eligible for honours can

undertake both the research methodology and research thesis

subjects as electives in the major.

Hello my name is Maxine Evers and I'm an Associate Professor here

in the faculty and I was involved in the establishment of

the legal futures and technology major in .

So I'm going to speak to about the eligibility requirements for

you to undertake the major so if you are an undergraduate student

whether undertaking the bachelor of laws or the bachelor of laws

and combined degree.

And you wish to undertake the legal futures and technology

major then you have  options but both options have the same

core requirement that is that you have  credit points

remaining from your electives in your study plan.

Once you have established that then you can enrol in any of the

subjects listed in the major and that will then put you into the

major stream you don't need to enrol in anything else

specifically you don't need to contact the student

administration or the faculty just enrol in the major

subjects.

If you are already undertaking some subjects that are listed in

the major?

And including those subjects you have  credit points remaining

you may decide to opt to continue with major subjects and

therefore graduate with the legal futures and technology

major listed on your test team.

If you are unsure as to whether you do meet the eligibility

requirements in terms of having space in your study plan I would

encourage you to contact the faculties director of students

and they will be able to give you some advice about your study

and whether or not you do have room in the major to undertake?

At the  credit points required.

If you are a student undertaking honours or considering honours

you can also?

Undertake the major provided that the.

On this component will be part of the major So what that means

is.

You've got  subjects to complete honours the research

methodology which is a prerequisite to actually

undertaking your research thesis.

So you need to ensure that you have the space to do the

research methodology.

And then move on to the research thesis and of course if you are

undertaking the.

A thesis in the major you would be doing a thesis in relation to

the that very broad area of technology so you'd be likely

contacting one of my colleagues in the law faculty who work in

the area of law and tech.

So as far as eligibility requirements are concerned it's

very straightforward you need to ensure that you have those 

credit points of electives.

Can you just go ahead and enrol in the relevant subjects but as

I just said earlier I encourage you that if you do have any

concerns or any questions that you contact the faculties

director of students their details will be on the faculty

web page under current students and get some advice thank you

very much?