Law School Curriculum Needs to be Redesigned, be More Tech-Friendly: Survey

Existing law schools need to redesign their curricula in view of changes brought about by technology to the practice, claims the latest study conducted by the BML Munjal University (BMU) School of Law.

The majority of the experts confirmed the existence of a gap between what young lawyers are taught at law school and what is typically expected of them in this digital world.

Law school curriculum must be redesigned and made more technology-friendly and it is important to help students navigate the impact of the interplay of technology with social and economic activities, reveals the survey.

The findings of the research, titled “Legal Curriculum Redesign for the Digital World” captured how legal education can better prepare young lawyers for the digital world in the rapidly transforming digital/legal environment in India.

The study also highlighted that a mandatory programme on technology studies in the context of its historical, social, and economic development should be added to the curriculum.

Foundational courses on technology should be introduced early in the undergraduate curriculum, with options for electives on more specialised law and technology courses, and other relevant co-curricular and extra-curricular learning modules available to students in the later years of the undergraduate programme, the study reveals.

“Greater collaborative engagement between law schools with other key stakeholders in structuring curriculum and pedagogy is required to ensure effective legal education in the digital world,” the survey states. Such collaboration must happen between law schools and key stakeholders like practising lawyers, in-house counsels, policy experts, and technologists, it adds.

Law schools must lead research and scholarship on key intersections of technology and the law across sectors, thereby creating more opportunities for effective learning for students and training of faculty for the purpose of effectively discharging legal training, the study says.

Dr Nigam Nuggehalli, Professor , BMU’s School Of Law, while launching the study said, “As per the BMU-Vahura survey, a majority of respondents foresee an increasing use of digitization and legal technology over the next 10 years. It is, therefore, critical to construct a curriculum that is aligned with the impact of technology on both the legal profession and the world at large.”

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