POSTPONED: Short Course: Legal Practice in the Digital Age: An Introduction to Data Literacy

Event Details

"By 2030, and possibly much sooner, our courts around the world will have been transformed by technologies that have not yet been invented...Today, we are surely at the beginning of an inevitable technological transformation in our court and judicial services." Professor Richard Susskind OBE, The Future of Courts and Online Justice, 2019.

The legal profession stands on the precipice of monumental technological change. The advent of algorithmic decision making in courts and tribunals, the increasing use of sophisticated data-based evidence in litigation and the development of artificial intelligence tools capable of replicating the functions of junior lawyers present existential challenges to the profession. Prominent theorists argue that lawyers and their clients will benefit from further incorporation of tools such as e-discovery, predictive analysis of judgments and smart contracts in daily practice.

Due to the recent passage of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, the legal profession has largely been asked to consider the data revolution in a 'reactive' sense, i.e. within the context of privacy and data protection. Such an emphasis ignores the potential opportunities afforded by proactive use of information technology in legal practice. Accessing those benefits is the aim of this course.

In order for lawyers to keep track of these developments and to ensure a high quality of legal representation in the digital age, BIICL and the Open Knowledge Foundation will support the legal sector to develop the skills necessary to harness the potential of data for their own practice.

   
The course will introduce participants to:

• Headline cases concerning the use of information technology
• Incorporation of data literacy tools into legal research skills,
• Analysis of modern forms of digital evidence such as GPS, biometrics and social media data, for example,
• Assessing the reliability of statistical evidence,
• Interrogation of algorithmic behaviour, and,
• Constructing and maintaining databases.

   

Learning objectives for the course include:

• Using data literacy tools to find information
• Applying knowledge of data to new forms of digital evidence
• Judging the reliability of statistical evidence
• Evaluating algorithmic behaviour
• Constructing and maintaining databases to store data for later use

Course structure

This is a two day course, all participants will attend the plenary session on day 1 and the practical session on day 2 or 3.  

Day 1:  Is a plenary for all attendees that provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges of data for the legal profession.

Day 2/3: Is a Practical session - developing hands-on tools needed to build data skills into legal practice.

The full course timetable will be available shortly.

  
Trainers

• Michael Abiodun Olatokun FRSA, Head of Public and Youth Engagement and Research Fellow in Citizenship, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law

• Cédric Lombion, Data and Innovation Lead, Open Knowledge Foundation
• Meg Foulkes, Data & Law Project Lead, Open Knowledge Foundation   

   
Pricing & registration

Please note this course has been postponed.

 
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