‘Law School Should Expand its Curriculum Beyond Fields of Substantive Law’
A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Lere Fashola, has urged the Nigerian Law School, to expand the mandatory curriculum beyond fields of substantive law, by introducing case management processes and legal technology; specific legal-tech skills, such as database management, statistics, analytics, and digital communications.
Fashola said the Law School would further and better serve the legal profession, by teaching students business, project management, and general tech skills.
He made this submission at the maiden edition of the Innovation and Tech Law Summit, held last Friday at Commerce House, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The summit with the theme, ‘Ensuring an Enabling Environment for Digital Innovation’ was organised by Innovation & Technology Lawyers Network.
Speaking on ‘The Future of Legal Services Delivery: Navigating the Technology Minefield’ in one of the sessions, Fashola, who is the Managing Director, ESQ
Training, said technology is transforming the world into a global marketplace where goods and services now cross borders faster and easier, and legal services are not an exception.
According to him, to be ahead of the curve, technical knowledge, business expertise, and a range of other skills, are needed.
“In future, the business of law will require fewer Lawyers - general support staff members, junior Lawyers, and generalists – and more legal technicians and project managers...Tech skills in the areas of digital communication and collaboration, computer and data science, and statistics, will become the coin of the realm in this profession. In some law firms, new roles including legal process managers and general legal technicians will emerge…
“There is, on the horizon, a new segment of the legal economy that is financed by non-Lawyers, and heavily focused on data, process, and technology, which taps into skill sets not traditionally taught in
Law School. Law School needs to figure out how to deal with the changes occurring in the legal marketplace, and the organised Bar, needs to address the demographic shift.
“Despite the legal sector being known for following precedent, the legal sector is not immune to innovation. There has been a sudden burgeoning of legal innovation globally, most evidently in new business models and players involved, which is transforming the business of law, as we know it. Although legal innovation in Africa is lagging behind other countries and industries, the desire to innovate is gaining momentum, and is one of the hottest topics currently. Although there are many drivers of innovation, and players are aware of the lucrative potential in harnessing the tech opportunities, there are still significant barriers to change.
“It’s important to reiterate here again that, digitalisation of legal services goes beyond swapping the paper file for a tablet. It involves a complex web of design thinking, technology, law and others, with the ultimate goal of finding better ways to bring legal satisfaction to both service givers and clients. Not only embracing the change, but also restrategising and repositioning is what law firms should be doing.
“Lastly, Lawyers and legal service givers themselves need to be actively involved, as the foundation for the fourth industrial revolution is laid”, he stated.
Chuma Akana, the Convener of the Summit said the Innovation and Tech Law Summit is an annual event, which is aimed at gathering thought leaders in technology companies, Lawyers, payment companies, government/regulation agencies and startups, techpreneurs and venture capitalists, to discuss various ways to improve the ecosystem, the latest trends and showcase products.
Akuna noted that, the summit revolves around the critical role