Legal Technology and Innovation
Overview
This unit introduces students to the relationship between law, technology and design. Legal innovation and technology have become a new focus in the legal industry as technologies of automation slowly transform the nature of legal practice. At the same time, students receive instruction on technology as an object of legal regulation, as well as how technology changes the nature of law itself. This unit offers highly practical lab-based work where students learn the fundamentals of automating legal services and decision support systems, as well as develop skills required for designing new technologies to aid the practice of law.
Requisites
75 credit points in Law units
09-February-2025
05-October-2025
02-November-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Describe and evaluate new technologies that change, challenge and enable the way that lawyers work
- Represent a legal decision making process as a series of logical steps
- Explain and build a software system intended to automate a legal decision making task
- Design and construct a solution to address a challenge or problem in the area of legal practice, and convey the solution requirements to a non-legal audience
- Work collaboratively as a team to design a legal technology solution
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Class | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Online Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 8.50 | 12 weeks | 102 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Swinburne Online
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 11.50 | 12 weeks | 138 |
| Live Online Class | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | Individual | 50 - 70% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Written Assignment | Group | 30 - 50% | 1,2,3,4,5 |
Content
- Legal reasoning and technology
- Changing technologies of law
- Designing and building a system for legal automation (practical)
- Legal expert systems
- Legal design
- Law, technology and sovereignty
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.