All law schools had to go online ( if only for a few months) in the last year due to the pandemic. This necessitated that a law student needed to become more adept with classroom technologies very quickly. However, this value-added for the law student's overall technical knowledge in general law school usage of online classroom platforms did not necessarily increase a student's overall tech competency skills needed for law practice. Our session provides data points from various surveys, studies, reports, and published comments from practicing attorneys to evaluate whether providing law students with a base level understanding of core information technology principles is enough for them to be considered tech competent for the actual practice of law today. Where appropriate, we also identify currents gaps in legal technology instruction compared to the legal technology expectations of practicing attorneys and hiring managers.
Attendees need no additional or specialized knowledge for our recorded session. Still, an interest in legal technology competency for lawyers and legal technology instruction in law schools would increase the value of the session for an attendee. We hope attendees will leave our session with a greater understanding of what law schools should be teaching in legal technology courses and doctrinal courses with technology components to ensure the students will be considered technologically competent attorneys others want for their law firms today and in the future.
