Australia’s Flinders University will be offering a new suite of legal courses that will embed the legal implications of emerging technologies and how those technologies can be used in legal practices to increase access to justice.
As reported, the new curriculum will be available for study from March 2020.
Background of the Initiative
- Knowing the law is no longer enough. Graduates also need to understand and be capable of harnessing the channels through which justice is delivered, and that it is not just the courtroom. It has increasingly become the cyber sphere.
- By offering a new suite of innovative core topics, it is guaranteed that graduates stay ahead of technological and societal changes, and the opportunities and challenges of increasing globalisation.
- Students will additionally have the opportunity to embrace legal innovation for social good as part of their course options.
- Legal studies are founded on principles casting back hundreds of years.
- However, there is an increasing need to augment that fundamental grasp of jurisprudence with skills that enable justice to be effectively delivered in contemporary society.
- Technological innovation is transforming almost every aspect of the law and legal practice, creating new ways of working in new markets.
- These bold new offerings mean that a Flinders Law degree will give students the skills and knowledge required to adapt and thrive in a changing legal landscape.
Flinders University Suite of Legal Offerings
The suite of new legal offerings includes:
- Law in a Digital Age
This exposes students to legal technology platforms, learning how to best utilise technology in legal practice. It seeks to equip students with the digital skills to assist clients to access justice.
It is a topic of vital importance given the fast-changing pace of technology so graduates need to be able to adapt to the next generation of technology, whatever that may be.
Students will develop legal software applications for not-for-profit clients with a view of increasing access to justice.
- Law in a Global Age
This equips students with the skills to respond to jurisdiction beyond the Australian legal system.
By undertaking an international study tour, students will learn in international contexts including universities, legal institutions, government departments, and NGOs.
- Technology Law
This focuses on the interface between technology and the law. It will expose students to the challenges of regulating technologies, from social media to artificial intelligence (AI) and everything in between.
The awareness of the regulation of new technologies and the practicalities of regulating technology will be considered, potential issues can cover social media and internet censorship, augmented and virtual reality, fintech, robotics, nanotechnology, machine learning and biotechnology.
- Legal Innovation and Creative Thinking
This is designed to help Law students better harness their full creative potential.
The course focuses on creativity as a driver of legal innovation, helping students recognise new and existing opportunities in the legal sector.
- Innovation for Social Justice Impact
This explores the value and impact innovation has on social justice.
Applying an entrepreneurial mindset, students will develop a social justice innovation that can impact the community.
- Indigenous Peoples, Colonialism, and Law
Students will begin by engaging with Indigenous legal and governance structures, the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures articulate law, the legal frameworks within which British colonialism operated, and the legal impacts of colonialism on Indigenous peoples following invasion.
Building upon these foundations, students will examine issues in public law and their relationship with the history, cultures, and contemporary lives of Indigenous peoples in Australia.
- Law in Action
This prepares students with hands-on practical experience with authentic legal tasks.