Like almost every industry on earth, the legal sector is being reshaped by technology. As a result, law graduates are expected to arrive in the workplace with more than just top-notch legal skills.
According to proptech business Pexa, employers also expect graduates to be digitally capable, ready to adopt new technologies, and open to the new ways of working that those technologies inspire.
So, what does this mean for legal practice, and how can universities prepare graduates to succeed?
Change starts here
Technology has been part of the legal landscape since law firms began using dictaphones the 1950s. Today, cassette-based dictaphones have been replaced by increasingly complex technologies that continually shift how lawyers do their jobs.
These include:
- generative AI tools, including large language models, that can create and summarise content
- blockchain, which provides a secure environment for data exchange and transactions and the execution of smart contracts and other legal documents
- automation, analytics and prediction tools that can streamline tasks like legal research, contract reviews and case law analysis
- workflow management tools, which can increase productivity, efficiency and accuracy and ensure automated regulatory compliance
- cloud-based systems, including data storage and case management tools
- client-facing technologies, such as chatbots and client portals, that give clients round-the-clock access to the latest updates and information about their case.
These technologies offer significant benefits to the legal sector, such as increasing efficiency and productivity; improving communication between lawyers and their clients; and enabling data-driven research, strategy and decision-making that drives better legal outcomes.
But they also come with a range of risks. These include challenges around data security and client confidentiality, bias embedded in AI algorithms, and a regulatory environment that often struggles to keep pace with technological change.
Understanding how to leverage the benefits of technology without falling victim to its flaws (like the solicitor in Victoria who used generative AI to produce a list of citations that were later found to be fabricated) is now a critical competency for lawyers at all levels of practice.
Where technology meets the law
As a faculty of law in a university of technology, UTS Law emphasises the study of emerging technologies in both our undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The postgraduate Intellectual Property program includes a detailed look at intellectual property law and practice in Australia and New Zealand, and a consideration of the opportunities and risks of using generative AI and other AI powered tools in their legal practice.
Students also learn about specific technologies that can help them streamline the process of managing and commercialising intellectual property. These include technologies for drafting and applying for patents, searching the trade marks register and applying for trade marks.
Arhita Del Fierro is currently studying a Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property
In the Bachelor of Laws, the Legal Futures and Technology major connects students to tech-related subjects, from Disruptive Technologies and the Law through to Media and Digital Platform Regulation, Law Tech Clinic, and Privacy and Surveillance Law, to name a few. These same tech-focused subjects are available as elective subjects in both the Bachelor of Laws and the Juris Doctor, a postgraduate law degree for students without a previous legal qualification.
“We learnt to consider legal issues as they relate to technology,” says Ethan Huang, who studied the Legal Futures and Technology Major and is now a tech lawyer at Gilbert + Tobin.
“For example, how should we, as lawyers, approach issues around ethics, security, and balancing regulation with innovation? What policy or regulatory levers can we help influence and, in a sort of circular way, how can we adopt technology or new processes to do so more effectively?"
“A trusted legal advisor not only provides sound legal advice but can also adapt the way legal services are provided in the face of technological change.”
According to UTS Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa, winner of the 2022 Women in AI Award (Law Category), graduates not only need the skills to use these technologies but an understanding of how they’re regulated and the ways in which their application can impact questions of fairness and justice.
“We want our students to understand how to thoughtfully and effectively use these technologies to be better lawyers for future clients, but [they also need to recognise the associated] social justice implications,” she says.
“These range anywhere from embedded gender biases in artificial intelligence tools through to thinking about the environmental impact of using these tools and how that impacts on their abilities to engage in ethical and sustainable practice.”
Your future in intellectual property: Career guide
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