Conclusions of Working Group 1 : Undergraduate

teaching in the field of Law and ICT

Cesare Maioli - Dag Wiese Schartum- Robert Queck

LEFIS General AssemblyWroclaw 17-18 September 2007

Some comments on "ICT-Law and undergraduate

studies compliant with the European Tuning initiative"

http://www.lefis.org/course/view.php?id=4

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Outline

I. Introduction to the subject area : why teaching (and research) in ICT and IS-Law?

II. Degree profiles : why and how teach ICT and IS-Law at undergraduate level (Bachelor)?

1. Why start already at Bachelor's level?

2. The general "Bachelor in law"

3. A specific "Bachelor in computers and law"

4. Role of ICT-Law in other degree programmes

III. Learning outcomes, competences and courses

1. Principles

2. Some general competences to be acquired

3. Courses to be taught in a general "Bachelor in law"

4. Courses to be taught in a specific "Bachelor in computer law"

IV. Workload and ECTS

V. Learning, teaching and assessment

VI. Quality enhancement

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I. Introduction to the subject area :

why teaching (and research) in ICT and IS-

Law?

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I. Why teaching (and research) in ICT and IS-Law?

The context:

=> ICT are increasingly part of our daily life and our society is (at least on its way to become) an Information Society

ICT IS So

ciety

= =>Techno-logy

Socio-logy

Economics /Management

LAW

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I. Why teaching (and research) in ICT and IS-Law?, ctd.

Law as a tool for organizing life in society is 1. a key element in this evolution (ex

ante by fostering it – ex post by organizing and controlling) and 2. is itself shaped

and influenced by this evolution

=> Various interrelationships between ICT/computers – law

"Law as framework" / "ICT-computer as object of law"

"Law as content" / "law in computer programmes"

"ICT-computers as tools"

"ICT-computers as catalytic agents"

=> Teaching (and research) is a requirement for the capability of drafting,

knowing, understanding, applying and improving those rules

=> Teaching ICT-Law requires a multi- (inter-) disciplinary approach in order to take into account the "raw material" rules have to deal with

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II. Degree profiles :

why and how teach ICT and IS Law

at undergraduate level (Bachelor)?

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II.1. Why start already at Bachelor’s level?

All law programmes must take into account the environment in which

law is created and applied and therefore ICT and IS

Most branches of law have to take into account ICT related elements (e.g.

contract law and electronic signatures or Procedural Law – use of ICT in

the administration of justice )

ICT are today a tool for lawyers from the start (e.g. course on legal

methodology

N.B.: the integration of ICT-Law elements in Bachelor courses must be

taken into account at the level of related (complementary) Masters

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II.2. The general "Bachelor in law"

Objective: train good general practitioners in law who may – to a limited extent – access to labour market

the Bachelor curriculum aims at providing a complete coverage of

the necessary basic legal topics = the “basics”

+ a lawyer needs to understand and take into account the environment in which law is created and applied: legal courses are complemented by other disciplines e.g. economics, computer science

=> Courses address: law as a framework – law as a content / computers as tools – ICT as catalytic agents

N.B.: Courses aiming at specialization are in principle reserved for the Master programme, e.g. Tax Law, International Law

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II.3. A specific "Bachelor in computers and law"

Would it provide a knowledge too specific and a basis too narrow for the

education of the student at graduate level ?

Not if one adopts a more professionalizing view of the Bachelor degree

A specific Bachelor degree in computers and law would allow / need inter-

and multi-disciplinarity as aim and basic approach

Would not lead to a classical legal carrier but to specific professions, e.g. the

"Operator in Law and Information Technology"

N.B.: such a degree would require in some MS amendment of existing law

=> Courses address: law as a framework – law as a content / computers

as tools – ICT as catalytic agents

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II.4. Role of ICT-Law in other degree programmes

Legal norms ruling ICT and in general IS are increasingly a basic

input in degree programmes other than law

=> Programmes addressing ICT / IS as a main topic e.g. from a technological

(e.g. bachelor in computer science) or business / management approach

=> In these degrees, the ICT-Law elements would normally concentrated

within one "Computer Law" course

N.B.: teaching law to non-lawyers requires a different pedagogy than

the one used with lawyers

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III. Learning outcomes, competences and courses

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III.1. Principles

Both, the general and the specific Bachelor degrees, should be based on

fundamental legal/political principles of the European legal culture, such as

democracy, privacy, rule of law, freedom of contracts and freedom of information

Concrete subject topics should be dynamically selected and shaped for taking into

account the rapid and unpredictable evolution of the technological and

economical context of the rules as well as the shifting needs of society

Programmes should be given distinct profiles reflecting the specialization of the

organizing institution

Programmes should facilitate students exchanges, e.g. by complementary profiles of

programmes and by coordinated organization / content of semesters

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III.2. Some general competences to be acquired in both types of Bachelor degrees

General basic skills: to identify, know (including update), understand,

put in context and apply to simple cases the "legal" rules concerned

=> this implies notably

To carry out independent and critical retrieval and processing of relevant

information

To cope with evolution of rules + of their technological /economical context

To analyse critically legal texts (internal coherence and external efficiency)

To carry out independent and critical analyses of

problems /cases and take decisions on this basis

To formulate and communicate relevant questions, analyses and

results, both orally and in writing, individually and in groups

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III.2. Some general competences to be acquired in both types of Bachelor degrees, ctd.

Some skills to be acquired by law students related to ICT and ICT-Law

Understanding of the mutual influence between ICT and law as well as between

the development of the Information Society and law

Understanding of basic concepts like "software", "data base",

"telecoms", "organizational and business processes", of their

use in information systems as well as of related legal issues

Identification and understanding of normative issues concerning the

proper scope and application of public and private law to of

ICT and IS

Elementary ICT skills

Relate to people with another disciplinary background

…

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III.3. Courses to be taught in a general "Bachelor in law"

ICT / IS and ICT/IS related elements should be taken into account by:

General courses and courses dedicated to general principles

- Courses on general principles should address the way in which general

concepts are affected by ICT

- A course on legal methodology and reasoning which should address paper

AND electronic sources (off-line and on-line) and put the emphasis on

technical AND intellectual control

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III.3. Courses to be taught in a general "Bachelor in law", ctd.

Courses dedicated to specific legal branches e.g. contract law

Courses specifically dedicated to computer (systems) and ICT-Law

=> a certain "digital culture" and general usage capacities are today

"basic knowledge"

-A specific course dedicated to computer and ICT-Law as such

- A course giving a technical introduction to computer systems and legal

informatics - beware of "pseudo-knowledge" !

=> ICT / IS and ICT/IS related elements should also be taken into account by:

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III.4. Courses to be taught in a specific "Bachelor in computers and law"

Courses equivalent to 10 ECTS-credits should address some of the

following topics:

E-democracy and freedom of information

E-government and rule of law

E-business and e-contracting

Intellectual property

Privacy, data protection and data security

Computer-crime and security

E-Justice

Electronic communications

…

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III.4. Courses to be taught in a specific "Bachelor in computers and law", ctd.

Complementary, non-legal courses should be offered as a foundation

(assistance to) those dedicated to legal topics, e.g.

Computer systems and networks

Management of computer systems

N.B. 1: legal courses already should have in mind the other disciplines,

but specific interdisciplinary course(s) could be useful e.g. economic

foundations of ICT-regulation

N.B. 2: demarcation with Master courses could sometimes be difficult

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IV. Workload and ECTS

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IV. Workload and ECTS

Overall workload of all Bachelor degrees: 3 x 60 credits

=> 1 credit = 24 h work (assistance to lectures + preparations, exercises, research ,

exams,…)

Bachelor in law:

Within general law courses ICT aspects could be represented for an equivalent

value of ± 12 to 20 credits (including a course on legal methodology)

2 Courses specifically dedicated to ICT and ICT-Law: 6 credits overall

Specific Bachelor in computers and law:

Legal courses: between 40 and 80 credits

Some 20 credits should be attained in connection to the generic competences

Non-legal courses: some 80 credits

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V. Learning, teaching and assessment

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V. Learning, teaching and assessment

The "classics": lectures (taking appropriate notes = part of the learning

process), seminar groups, exercise sessions (emphasis on application of

rules to cases) and homework both with written and oral presentations –

no thesis

ICT, computers, access to internet should be used as a support for

pedagogy and courses: within courses AND after/ beyond courses towards

“e-learning”?

Practitioners (barristers, judges, researchers,…) should be invited in

general courses and lecture more specialized courses

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VI. Quality enhancement

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VI. Quality enhancement

Teaching, esp. for the specific Bachelor degree, should rely on input of

specialized research centres

Fast and unpredictable evolution of technologies, markets, society needs

=> permanent scrutiny + evaluation every 2 years

* Peer review + practitioners: barristers and judges but also computer scientists,

economists, sociologists, … )

* Take into account the surrounding teaching offer: esp. Master

programmes,

continuing education

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VII. Conclusions

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VII. Conclusions

Taking into account ICT related elements within law courses and

teaching ICT-Law as such is justified and needed already at

undergraduate level

A multi-disciplinary approach is needed to a varying extent

=> general bachelor degree ≠ specific bachelor degree

Some reluctance by universities / faculties to engage in the new

academic field of ICT-Law teaching and in adopting a multi-

disciplinary approach may be overcome by examples seen in the context

of cooperation and networks like LEFIS