Abstract:
‘Technology is here to stay’, Chief Justice SA Bobde, Indian Supreme Court.
This statement indicates that the legal field is bound to find itself impacted with the technological developments that it so adamantly resisted up until now. It is necessary that legal education too equip law students with the necessary skill and understanding of technology considering its growing use in the functioning of the justice system. The use of technology in turn has become a necessity to the field of legal education. Distance Learning Programmes, Virtual Classes and MOOCS along with other technological services provide essential legal education to a wider group of students including students facing physical disabilities and geographic restrictions. Accessibility to legal education is essential to enhance progression of the legal field. The author stresses that the use of dynamic technological approaches helps meet this goal in a developing country like India having various cultural and socio-economic contours that must be addressed. Further, use of technology and distance learning programmes are often considered insufficient in a stream such as law wherein practical work experience is greatly valued and considered necessary in the field. However, with the shift to technology in legal practice, its use should be incorporated to teach virtual arbitration, e-filing, client-lawyer communication through clinics etc. The digital era has made accessibility to practical legal learnings convenient. There exist fundamental challenges to the adoption of technology however the benefit of accessibility and efficiency in technology enhanced legal education out-weight the harms in this day and age.
Speaker:
Ms. Sanah Javed, Final Year Law Student, School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore
The author of the paper titled ‘Technology fostering accessibility in legal education’, Ms. Sanah Javed, is a final year law student, pursuing her degree from School of Law, Christ University, India. She has previously published her articles in various student-reviewed peer journals and legal blogs including in the original position by NLU Jodhpur and the Child Rights Law and Policy Review by NLU Assam. Ms. Javed is an avid mooter and has taken part in the South-Asian Rounds of the Monroe Price Media Law Moot organised by organised by Bonavero Institute of Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford in 2019. She is interested in Technology Law and Intellectual Property Law.