MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY

Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 47–72, April 2022

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF
LEGAL EDUCATION

YULIYA KHARITONOVA,1 LARISA SANNIKOVA2

Accepted 1 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Law, Research and Education
3. 11. 2021
Center for Legal Studies of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy, Business
Revised Law Department, Moscow, Russia, sovet2009@rambler.ru
2 State Academic University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia, 7718609@mail.ru
12. 12. 2021

Published CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

26. 4. 2022 sovet2009@rambler.ru

Abstract Employers and practicing lawyers face the challenges

of digitalisation in society. Many lack enough experience and
skills to work with digital technologies. To increase the
competitiveness of their graduates, universities have
established advanced training programmes related to digital
technologies and law; however, a common approach has yet to
be found. The development and implementation of the
proposed Framework for the Digital Competence of Lawyers
will assist in solving novel problems in the field of legal
education. This framework should include general digital
competencies for all legal professions. The use of computer or
virtual simulators, demo versions of popular digital platforms,
Keywords
digital skills and
and LegalTech hackathons within the educational process has
competence, been proposed to improve the digital skills of law students,
future technology,
ICT, which will allow examining the essence of ongoing processes
employability, and better acquire theoretical knowledge about new
digital competence of
lawyers technologies.

https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.15.1.47-72.2022
© 2022 University of Maribor, University Press
48 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

1 Introduction: Conversion of the Legal Profession in the Digital Age

New digital technologies have a significant impact on the labour market, causing not
only the emergence of new professions, but modifications to traditional ones as well.
Education, being the most conservative social field, has failed to keep pace with the
labour market's growing demands. Many professionals suffer because of this,
including lawyers. Modern conditions require lawyers to apply various information
technologies (IT) in their professional activities. Presently, too many legal
professionals lack the competences to provide adequate legal support for client’s or
employer’s high-tech business. Growing demands for legal knowledge and skills in
a digital society pose ongoing challenges to traditional legal education. With this in
view, we study the impact of digital technologies on legal education in order to
provide recommendations for the specific skills legal students need to acquire to
apply digital technologies in their professional activities.

The rapid digitalisation of society raises reasonable concerns whether certain

professions are sustainable, at least without radical reforms. The legal profession is
one of the oldest and most respected professions; however, even its future,
according to some forecasts, is questionable.

A well-known study by Frey and Osborne (2017) examined the reduction in the
number of occupations caused by computerisation. The percentage reducation for
the following legal occupations are as follows:

− Legal secretaries 98 percent;

− Paralegals and legal assistants 94 percent;
− Court, municipal, and license clerks 46 percent;
− Judicial law clerks 41 percent;
− Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates 40 percent;
− Detectives and criminal investigators 34 percent;
− Lawyers 3.5 percent.
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 49.

Thus, the legal professions providing technical support to legal activities are subject
to the greatest risk. The authors of the study emphasise that ‘for the work of lawyers
to be fully automated, engineering bottlenecks to creative and social intelligence will
need to be overcome, implying that the computerisation of legal research will
complement the work of lawyers in the medium term’ (Frey & Osborne, 2017).

This conclusion was fully confirmed during the automation of legal activities, which
is called LegalTech. LegalTech refers to technological solutions used by lawyers in
rendering services or performing their professional activities. LegalTech allows legal
professionals to avoid the routine work, thereby reducing costs, and accelerating
their work.

LegalTech is most commonly applied in the following areas:

− Online services offering standard solutions for a specific category of legal

issues;
− Programmes facilitating routine tasks (for example, preparing letter drafts
and monitoring deadlines), processing repetitive tasks (for example, drafting
and examining standard contracts, and recognising questionable provisions
in documents for further analysis);
− Technologies reducing the complexity of the lawyer’s work, analysing
previous court decisions, and assessing the probable outcomes of legal
issues or cases.

Significantly, in its embryonic stages, LegalTech was utilized by individual companies

to help them decide whether certain aspects of their activities required automation.

Accordingly, y PwC Legal in cooperation with Legal Insight and Holger Zscheyge
conducted the study ‘Lawyers in Digitalization’ (Infotropic Media). In the study, the
contract drafting as well as the power of attorney issuing same and the legal databases
were automated in companies with small legal departments (less than 10 lawyers),
while one-half of the companies with medium-sized legal departments (11–50
lawyers) also included the automated feature that allowed issues/claims to be
analyzed (i.e. forecasted). Consistently, the companies with the largest legal
departments (more than 50 lawyers) also chose the automation to manage
department matters as well.
50 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

Start-ups proposing technological solutions for the legal services market, either for
the legal business or for the consumers, constituted the next stage of the LegalTech
development. The primary spheres for these start-up projects included legal
research, law practice management software, robot lawyer, contact analysis and legal
forms, documents creators, litigation funding, lawyer search/marketplaces, online
legal services, and notarisation tools.

Technological legal services provided to clients are known as LawTech in the legal
literature. While LawTech seeks to meet clients’ demands LegalTech targets lawyers.
Ultimately, there are no significant reasons to justify such division since the same
service, a robot lawyer being an example, can both facilitate lawyers’ work by
eliminating routine tasks and respond to clients’ legal consulting demands. In our
opinion, LawTech represents the next evolutionary stage of LegalTech's
development, progressing from the automation of legal processes to the
implementation of digital technologies.

However, it is the artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain application that indeed
threaten the traditional legal profession. Blockchain is a distributed database that is
shared among the nodes of a computer network. As a database, a blockchain stores
information electronically in a digital format. Blockchains are best known for their
crucial role in cryptocurrency systems, such as Bitcoin, for maintaining a secure and
decentralized record of transactions. Blockchains are having a dramatic impact on
society. Bitcoin blockchain, being the first, allowed only a brief transaction record
to be entered into the block. Modern bitcoins can contain programmes with
implementation conditions as well.

A smart contract is a computer programme or a transaction protocol which is

intended to automatically execute, control or document legally relevant events and
actions acccording to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The programme will
verify whether all the conditions to the contract or agreement have been satisfied
and will confirm the transaction with an algorithm to exchange digital assets for
goods. The smart contract's self-performance is commonly associated with the
preliminary algorithmisation of contracts' performance obligations under certain
terms, such as the automatic transfer of funds from the counterparty’s account or
termination of the contract if a payment is missed (Sannikova & Kharitonova, 2019).
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 51.

Accordingly, the smart contracts were intended to fully eliminate lawyers, while the
blockchain allows resorting to intermediaries. However, legal knowledge and skills
are required to draft smart contacts as well as provide their due diligence. Gradually,
legal practitioners must obtain additional skills to collaborate in the drafting process
of smart contracts.

The AI application in the legal activities framework also raises reasonable concerns.
Some recent studies reveal the AI scope for various legal fields (Re & Solow-
Niederman, 2019; Surden, 2019). AI proved its efficacy in both the repeated
utilization of standard legal papers as well as for review of legal precedents, as it
assists in making assessments regarding a client's legal position and can anticipate
the likelihood of how a court will rule based on the concrete facts of the case in light
of the court's past rulings in cases involving the same or very similar factual
situations.

AI is also involved in judicial systems, promoting court decisions. Some jurisdictions,

like Estonia, consider using AI not only for consulting matters, but also for resolving
cases by a judge robot. The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of
the Council of Europe has adopted the first European Ethical Charter on the use of
AI in judicial systems. While AI undoubtedly can be useful in many legal fields,
presently it is not advanced enough to fully substitute for human beings.

Eventually, the modern digital technology is going to transform traditional legal

business significantly (Hongdao et al., 2019; Jenkins, 2007). Notaries, known as a
very conservative legal profession, are an excellent example. A modern Russian
notary provides legal assistance for remote transactions, maintains the unified notary
actions database, and provides support using electronic signatures to both citizens
and legal entities. The introduction of advanced technologies, as well as the creation
of convenient services under modern societal demands, has led to an increased
demand for notarial services in civil relations.

However, the relevant question is how to combine notarys' capabilities with the
advancements in digital technologies, such as smart contracts, blockchain, etc. For
example, the digital inheritance will continue to grow in popularity worldwide,
meaning the universal succession for both tokens and cryptocurrencies, as well as
for accounts and digital content (i.e. letters, messages, and photos) (Berlee, 2017). In
addition, it is only the unique relationship between notarys' skills and knowledge that
52 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

can ensure effective security of individual and entities’ rights within new emerging
relations.

It is essential to acknowledge that introducing digital technology into the legal sphere
will subject the law to significant changes and will have global consequences . The
future of law in the digital century is widely discussed presently by the legal science
both in Russia and abroad.

Lessig proposed a fundamentally different approach to individuals’ activity within

virtual space. He stated that ‘code means law’, implying possibly replacing legal
regulations by algorithms, as they are more effective due to their high degree of
formalisation, lack of ambiguity, which collectively reduces if not totally eliminates
room for interpretation (Lessig, 2009). Digitalisation may cause narrowing of the
legal scope, since the digital platforms provide an opportunity to establish self-
managing by self-performed smart contracts.

However, this does not mean that there will be no legal regulation of the digital
space. Formal rules stipulated by the laws are not respective legal regulation tools,
but rather constitute technological solutions. As smart contracts have revealed, legal
services are an integral part of digital platforms service. The respective technical
solutions should conform to common law principles such as good faith, contract
freedom, and equity.

These conditions have increased the demand for professionals possessing both the
legal knowledge and knowledge in digital technologies. A question is whether and to
what extent this demand is known and appreciated in the relevent legal communities
and can be satisfied by higher education.

2 Legal Education Worldwide

Leading universities have already proposed various courses devoted to digital

technology, such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, and bitcoin. The Coinbase platform
has conducted interesting research. It includes the Qriously survey of 735 U.S.
students aged 16 and older, a comprehensive review of courses at 50 international
universities, an analysis of research citations and non-coursework offerings, and
interviews with professors and students. As the study stated, in 2019, 56 percent of
the world’s top 50 universities offered at least one course on crypto or blockchain,
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 53.

up from 42 percent in 2018. Especially noteworthy is that law school classes added
another 10.7 percent in 2019 compared to 2018, while computer science classes are
still the most common, accounting for 32.2 percent. However, finance, business, and
economics classes collectively tally 19.8 percent.

Considering that law schools are proposing increases in courses related to digital
technologies, it is essential to analyse the contents of respective educational
programmes rather than merely their number.

To proceed with the analysis, we selected educational programmes related to the

blockchain technology and crypto assets, so there were no any AI-related
programmes, although some schools provide such courses. Moreover, we tried to
include an array of law schools from various continents and countries, regardless of
their world rating.

The present study analysed educational programmes (advanced training courses),

master’s degree courses (short-term courses), and independent master’s programmes
(2–3 years of study) that are intended for lawyers or provide lawyer’s qualifications.
We have also considered programmes associated with cyber-security science.
However, we did not include the latter in our report because they are unrelated to
law education.

The analysis of educational programmes focused on the content of educational

programmes with specific training courses, materials, and learning outcomes to be
achieved by students as a primary target. The results of the comparative analysis of
educational programmes are presented in three tables according their type.

The study proved that universities more often launched professional development
programmes providing knowledge and skills (Table 1).
54 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

Table 1: Professional Development Programmes with a Professional Certificate

Applicant
Requirements and Generic Skills and
Programme General Topics
the Period of Outcomes Achieved
Study
− Understanding
blockchain − Understand
− The blockchain blockchain
Oxford ecosystem technology and its
Blockchain impact on the
− Innovations in the
Strategy future of the
University degree, value transfer
Programme, company and the
work experience; − Decentralised apps
Oxford field
6 weeks online, 10– and smart
University’s − Understand the
15 hours a week contracts
Saïd Business possibilities of
School, Oxford, − Transforming integrating
UK enterprise business blockchain
models technology into a
− Blockchain business strategy
frontiers
− Automate
− Technological processes in the
innovations in the company
Master of Laws legal field
in LegalTech − Create smart
(LLM), − Constructing contracts
Innovative effective legal
University degree; 8 − Manage the legal
jurisprudence in processes based on
months ecosystem
the digital information
technologies − Apply gamification
economy, − Use application
HSE, − Digital potential
for improving the programming and
Russia cryptography
company's legal
efficiency (chatbots, virtual
reality (VR)
− Discover in-depth
− Fundamentals of knowledge about
blockchain law the economic
− Regulation impact of token
Blockchain, cryptoeconomics
Cryptocurrency, issuance, the
and blockchain intellectual
and Law, governance
University degree; property
Franklin
two semesters − Data privacy & implications of
Pierce School of
online security blockchain
Law, The
University of − Smart government technology, and
New Hampshire, − Blockchain for various cases of
USA social impact governmental use
− Ethics of to address and
distributed systems solve a host of
in health care public sector
problems
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 55.

Applicant
Requirements and Generic Skills and
Programme General Topics
the Period of Outcomes Achieved
Study
− Be able to obtain a
degree in the field
Digital Law, − LegalTech of digital rights
Doctoral College, Hackathon − Be able to conduct
the Faculty of − Law ex Machina— fundamental
Law and the Support for legal research to prepare
Faculty of solutions and support legal
Mathematics and − Defining the use expert systems
Doctorate in the
Computer of language in law: − Know theoretical
field of digital law;
Science at the methods and and legal issues in
short term
University of perspectives the field of
Heidelberg − Block lecture artificial
in cooperation ‘Legal intelligence
with the Technologies’ − Know the
University of − Seminar ‘Legal constitutional
Ulm, Germany Thinking’ requirements for
using self-learning
systems

Usually, advanced training courses focus on the essentials of modern legal practice
and knowledge on blockchain and cryptocurrency. Education often provides only
courses that impart information on topical and theoretical matters on respective
technologies, and fail to teach actual skills critical to digital technologies. Therefore,
although students receive theoretical knowledge pertaining to available digital tools,
curricula in the past have not include courses that teach students how to apply that
theoretical knowledge in practice.

In addition, some advanced training requires programming skills from the students
or interaction with the respective experts. So, a Master of Laws degree in the
LegalTech (LLM) programme suggests a basic programming introduction together
with legal subjects. During its Digital Law (Doctoral College, the University of
Heidelberg in cooperation with the University of Ulm, Germany) course, lawyers
cooperate with software developers to develop and introduce software and app
prototypes at the hackathon that are useful and valuable in the legal field.

Universities have already realised that there is a need for a more detailed study of
digital technologies and have introduced appropriate courses for students enrolled
in master programmes (Table 2).
56 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

Table 2: Special Courses Within the Framework of General Master’s Training

Applicant Generic
Requirements Skills and
Programme General Topics
and the Period of Outcomes
Study Achieved
− Exhibit
knowledge and
understanding
of key concepts
in substantive
law, procedural
law, and legal
Legal framework of thought
(1) The technologies − Demonstrate
themselves facility with
Blockchain and
(2) The scope and legal analysis
Cryptocurrencies:
nature of business and reasoning
Law, Economics, Students of Law
applications − A combination
Business and Policy , School;
(3) The pertinent legal of skills such as
Stanford University, one semester
and regulatory synthesising
Stanford, California,
structures with a cases,
USA
particular emphasis on identifying and
securities regulation applying
aspects relevant
principles, and
mastering
modes of
inquiry (whether
scientific, social
scientific, or
humanistic)
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 57.

Applicant Generic
Requirements Skills and
Programme General Topics
and the Period of Outcomes
Study Achieved
− Mastery of the
principal areas
of law as they
relate to
blockchain
− Introduction to technology
cryptocurrencies − Expert,
and blockchains, specialised
and to smart cognitive, and
contracts and technical skills
governance for critical and
design independent
− Regulation of thought and
finance and reflection in the
securities markets context of
in the age of blockchain
blockchain technology and
Blockchain and − Initial coin its use cases
Graduate and
Cryptocurrency Law , offering (ICO) (including
master students;
The University of and their crypto
150 hours
Melbourne, Australia regulatory currencies)
framework − Mastery of
− Digital identity technical
and privacy research skills
− Intersection of relevant to
blockchain blockchain
technologies with regulation
existing legal − Skills to solve
frameworks problems,
− Cases of legal including
services use for through the
blockchain critical
technologies evaluation of
research
relevant to the
area of
blockchain
technologies
58 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

Applicant Generic
Requirements Skills and
Programme General Topics
and the Period of Outcomes
Study Achieved
− Skills to reveal
blockchain
capabilities
and legal
issues in digital
business
markets
− Skills for
− Digital economy preventing and
and the suppressing
transformation of unfair
law competition in
Legal regulation of − Virtual business digital markets
business activities in environment,
a digital economy, − Be able to
digital ecosystems conduct legal
‘Law and business’ , Bachelor’s;
− Law and digital examination of
Business Law 16 hours
assets documents,
Department,
Lomonosov Moscow − Smart contracts protect the
State University − Digital market rights and
− Protection of the legitimate
rights of interests of
businesses on businesses in
digital markets the digital
economy
− Be able to
collect
evidence in
digital form
for the court
and
investigations
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 59.

Applicant Generic
Requirements Skills and
Programme General Topics
and the Period of Outcomes
Study Achieved
− Understand
the law and
rules of
blockchain
− Be aware of
the constantly
changing
landscape
− The logic behind − Have the
blockchain and knowledge and
cryptocurrencies clarity
− Blockchain legal necessary to
Bachelor of Art fiscal and
MBA in blockchain assist
Degree or financial
and economics of blockchain
equivalent; environment
cryptocurrencies, E- companies in
not suitable for
learning − Smart contract solving the key
technical
Link Campus − Tracking and data problems they
professionals
University , The management on face and
intended for a high
International blockchain avoiding any
level of
University in Rome, − Fintech and future
programming;100
Italy payment systems problems
hours
with − Possess the
cryptocurrencies legal know-
− Health and how to
blockchain navigate
dynamic space,
including
knowledge of
business
tokenisation
and the
securities
market

What is special about such courses is their aim to teach students the legal
consequences of a new global technology. Master’s students should be aware of the
legal results of distributed ledger technology, blockchain, cryptocurrency (Bitcoin,
Ethereum, etc.), smart contracts, and decentralised applications.

As the period of masters courses (about one semester) is not longer than for the
above-mentioned advanced training courses, we can not presume any substantial
difference in the contents of the courses. However, as we have noticed, as a rule, the
contents of respective special courses depends on the topic of the master’s
programme (business, finance, etc.). Thus, the capability of graduates to examine the
60 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

functions of digital platforms to solve specific legal problems in the concrete field is
highlighted as the studying outcome.

Programmes entirely devoted to digital technologies and law were in the minority
(Table 3).

Table 3: Master’s Degree Programmes

Applicants
Requirements Generic Skills and
Programme General Topics
and the Outcomes Achieved
Period of Study
− Identify and
− Introduction to analyse challenges,
digital currencies prospects, and risks
of cryptocurrencies
− Money and banking
and devise business
− Open financial proposals and/or
systems develop blockchain
− Regulation and systems and
digital currencies services
− Principles of − Apply and advance
disruptive practice or research
innovation on blockchain
MSc in Digital
− Blockchain technology,
Currency,
technology and cryptography,
Master of Bachelor’s degree;
applications decentralised
Science in work experience is
Blockchain and − Cryptographic systems
preferable;
Digital systems security architectures, and
three semesters or
Currency, The − Digital currency information
1 year.
University of programming systems to design
Nicosia (UNIC), − International innovative systems
Cyprus currency markets and services that
complement and
− Digital currencies in
extend the existing
the developing
cryptocurrencies
world
ecosystem
− Financial markets
− Review, analyse,
and alternative
and compare
investments
different regulatory
− Emerging topics environments
and practical (banking,
considerations in payments,
blockchains project commerce, legal,
accounting, etc.)
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 61.

Applicants
Requirements Generic Skills and
Programme General Topics
and the Outcomes Achieved
Period of Study
− Cybersecurity
fundamentals
− Cyber algorithms − Crisis
− Network security communication
fundamentals − Learn effective
− Cyber risk ways to
management and communicate with
compliance clients and
− Entrepreneurship in stakeholders
information following a security
Master of technology breach.
Cybersecurity − Cyber security − Auditing and risk
(Law, Business principles mitigation
Ops. & IT), La − A network is only
Bachelor’s degree; − Computer forensics
Trobe as strong as its
University, 2 years − Cyber law weakest link
Melbourne, − Surveillance and − Legal and ethical
Australia privacy in the digital frameworks
age
− Surveillance,
− Introduction to privacy, warfare,
cyber forensics and and the threat of
the law cyberterrorism
− International − Gain an
cybercrime understanding of
− Cyber terrorism and the complex global
international forces that
warfare continue to play a
central role in
cybersecurity
− Skills in legal
support of the
− Legal support of digital economy
information security and e-Commerce
(finance, trade,
Computer law − Legal issues of
marketing,
and information access to
banking)
security information
IT Lawyer, − The ability to
Bachelor’s degree; − Legal regulation of
Higher school of identify the
2 years relations in the field
state audit, MSU computer offenses
of e-Commerce and
named after banking secrecy − Ability to ensure
Lomonosov business
− Forensics
information
− Examination of security (create
computer offenses information
systems and
resources, e-justice)
62 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

Two-year master’s programmes involve not only a general explanation of the

blockchain operation, but also courses regarding how digital technologies are
implemented into state authorities or business entities, as well as the related skills.
This sphere can be labelled as Cyber Law—the law affecting information and
communication technology (Arno, 2016), that is, the law regulating the internet
issues. This field is rather broad, covering several topics such as relevant competition
rules, drafting and negotiating information and communications technology (ICT)-
related contracts, electronic transactions, privacy issues, and computer crime. Such
knowledge is critically important for the lawyers who intend to practice in the digital
sphere. These universities provide courses that impart the skills necessary to apply
appropriate digital applications for specific objectives. These courses include
financial services and crypto exchange, cryptocurrency programming and smart
contracts, as well as cyber-criminalistics forensics (applied science of solving crimes
related to computer information).

Based on an analysis of the educational programmes that we studied we make the

following conclusions: The courses related to applied digital technology have been
implemented very deliberately in all educational institutions, whether in law
departments or law schools, despite the high demand. Accordingly, it is easier to find
an advanced training course yielding only a certificate than a specific programme
leading to a master’s degree in law. The fact that studying digital tools within the
legal profession and ensuring business security still forms a small part of the
educational market, is a rational explanation for the gradual approach. However, the
majority of lawyers are willing to obtain knowledge and skills on the digital economy
to better understand the general processes involved and to apply them in their
practices, and in order to develop models to use the blockchain for business.

Either short- or long-term legal study programmes include general modules or

courses as an introduction to a basic understanding of blockchain and
cryptocurrency, smart contracts and digital products management design, and digital
ecosystems. Obviously, the nature and extent of the topics offered differs depending
on the programme. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned courses are considered
common (core) subjects in legal studies. Contemporary society requires lawyers to
be aware of how to automate processes, manage cryptocurrency payments, and
interact with a digital government. In our opinion, all legal students should be
required to take these basic courses so as to obtain such knowledge and skills.
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 63.

As our analysis of the contents of the educational programmes we studied revealed,

presently only students in the field of cyber law are provided with the courses
required to obtain the skills necessary to work with digital services, including
programming elements. As for the students who chose a broader field, such as
corporate law or financial markets, the limited courses provide them only with a
chance to obtain theoretical knowledge pertaining to innovative digital technology,
as well as on related services and products. However, digital processes are drastically
revolutionalizing the legal profession and will likely compel all lawyers, regardless of
their specialisation field, to understand digital technology and have the know-how
to apply it in practice. In addition, as the survey revealed, legal practitioners, both
lawyers and students, are aware of this.

Thus, contemporary legal education does not fully meet the growing demands of the
labour market for professions in the legal field. In the digital age, the main challenge
to legal education is to provide future lawyers with both theoretical knowledge and
practical skills related to digital technology. Furthermore, the best solution will be to
design curricula that will ensure that all legal professions, regardless of their field of
specialization, will be competent to deal effectively with the digital world.

3 The Perspective of Lawyers’ Digital Competencies

The rapid growth of digitalisation has awakened society to the fact that citizens must
acquire the skills necessary to apply and work with digital facilities, as well as to be
aware of them and the digital sphere in general, in order to successfully study, work,
communicate, and interact with the state authorities. Various terms are used to
describe such skills and knowledge related to digital technologies, such as digital
fluency, digital literacy, and digital competence. However, as studies have shown, there is
no unified approach to their content or relationship (Ferrari et al., 2012; Spante et
al., 2018). Therefore, it is essential to study these concepts in reference to legal
professions.

In the field of academic education in the Bologna process, the key concept applied
is competence (Lozano et al., 2012), so it is reasonable to start with the review of digital
competences for lawyers.
64 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

The Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18

December 2006, on key competences for lifelong learning (2006/962/EC) provides
the following definition:

“Digital competence involves the confident and critical use of Information Society
Technology (IST) for work, leisure and communication. It is underpinned by basic
skills in ICT: the use of computers to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and
exchange information, and to communicate and participate in collaborative networks
via the Internet.«

To understand the nature of digital competence, the European Commission has

developed a set of digital competences for citizens (DigComp), divided into the
following five spheres: information and data literacy; communication and
collaboration; digital content creation; security; and problem solving. An overview
of digital competence concepts conducted by Silva and Behar (2019) stated that most
authors treat digital competences as a set of elements: knowledge, skills and attitudes,
digital/technological means, and problem solving.

Digital competence varies across different professional fields. The European

Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu), stipulating
22 educator‐specific digital competences is a good example (Caena & Redecker,
2019).

The broader legal community has recognized the critical importance for its members
to garner the skills and knowledge related to digital technology. For example, the
American Bar Association stipulated the following requirements regarding lawyers’
digital competence in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct:

“To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of
changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with
relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all
continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject.”

Nevertheless, in our view, the general requirement of having digital competence,

though necessary, is not sufficient. What is more important is to develop strategies
to develop concrete, compulsory digital competences.
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 65.

To develop a common approach in selecting digital competences, it is reasonable to

create the Framework for the Digital Competence of Lawyers. Digital competence
allowing the use of LegalTech for legal activities should lie in its core, as the above-
mentioned LegalTech is an inevitable part of every lawyer’s activity, regardless of the
specialisation field. The databases of law and judicial acts (such as the Consultant,
Garant in Russia) are considered the most obvious examples of documents whose
search LegalTech can facilitate.

Many LegalTech solutions were directed to the automation of certain activities, but
after some improvement and development, their application was enhanced
significantly. For example, in Russia, the state automated system Justice (SAS Justice)
was intended to form a unified information space of general courts, as well as the
system of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. But after 2016, it became
possible to file and submit claims and other procedural documents to federal courts
and obtain legally significant decisions from the courts via the internet. Accordingly,
the ability to use this system has become an important competence not only for
judges and individuals working in the judicial system, but also for all other lawyers.

All practicing lawyers, regardless of their area of specialisation, were indoctrinated

into how to conclude contracts using a digital signature, exchanging of electronic
documents by email, and online registration procedures.

Nonetheless, some areas of the law require special skills and knowledge. So, are
digital technologies the main development driver in the financial field? It is vital, for
example, that financial lawyers understand the origin of transactions and
consequences, digital assets, blockchain voting, and big data collecting. Moreover,
they should also be aware of relative technologies applications to support FinTech
projects legally. Accordingly, they should be capable of working with services based
on digital technologies involving blockchain, related to ICO conducting,
cryptocurrency payments, crypto exchange activity, and others. It also is essential for
lawyers working in the fields of RegTech and SupTech to possess specific digital
competences.

Therefore, we can conclude that the Framework for the Digital Competence of
Lawyers should include general digital competencies for all members of the legal
profession, as well as specific digital competencies depending on the field of
specialisation (for example, financial, intellectual property, notary, and criminology).
66 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

It is not sufficient for lawyers to possess only the digital literacy that an ordinary
citizen might possess. Rather, as a professional, all members of the legal profession
must possess a heightened level of digital competency.

Digital literacy means the ability to choose and use appropriate digital tools and
technology to achieve specific results. According to the National Agency for
Financial Research analytical centre, in 2018 only 26 percent of Russians
demonstrated a high level of basic competencies in the digital environment, and
generally, the digital literacy index was 52 out of 100 possible.

The basic digital skills and knowledge are to be formed at school and become a basis
of digital professional competencies. Higher educational schools should assess the
basic digital competencies of the students to be able to provide them with new
professional ones while studying. As a negative example, we can consider the
Information Technologies in Legal Activity programme of Kutafin Moscow State
Law University (MSAL). It contains eight practical classes devoted to text document
editing, and working with worksheets and presentations. The programme principally
concerns the application of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft
PowerPoint. The major shortcoming in this programme is that these skills are usually
obtained as a part of the computer science programme during Grades 6–9, at the
age of 12–16 years.

Developing the Framework for the Digital Competence of Lawyers will assist high
educational institutions in introducing relevant educational programmes. In our
opinion, digital competencies as a component of digital literacy shall be formed
during the undergraduate studies. Furthermore, the master’s programme will
provide an opportunity to acquire additional digital competencies for respective
specialisation fields.

Commonly, digital literacy includes typical technology applications, while digital

fluency refers to a higher level of digital competencies that allows creative
application of technology or their targeted adaptation: ‘the ability to leverage
technology to create new knowledge, new challenges, and new problems and to
complement these with critical thinking, complex problem solving, and social
intelligence to solve the new challenges’ (Sparrow, 2018).
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 67.

A lawyer possessing digital fluency is capable of drafting smart contracts using a

smart contracts library. Regarding the question whether a lawyer needs programming
skills, we note that it is unlikely that this requirement is justified as mandatory at the
current stage of technology development. However, having these skills can offer a
lawyer a significant competitive advantage in the labour market.

Digital technologies, as they are rapidly evolving, and not stagnant, will cause gradual
modifications in the digital competencies. As Ferrari (2013) fairly notes, ‘Digital
competency is a versatile evolutional process subjected to permanent change along
with new technology emergence’. Thus, digital literacy training of lawyers within
their legal field secures not only high demand on the labour market after graduation,
but also ensures their professional development.

Figure 1
Source: own.

4 Problems Encountered while Developing Lawyers’ Digital Skills

Digital skills are an essential part of digital competence. However, educational

institutions commonly focus on theoretical (not practical) knowledge, and this
problem can be clearly observed in the example of Russian higher education.

During the Soviet period, higher education was strictly divided into full time and
part time, and only part-time students could combine their studies with work,
attending a minimum number of classes before passing exams and tests (Hendley,
2018). It was assumed that full-time students would be able to master the necessary
68 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

skills during traineeships included in the curriculum. The situation has not changed
significantly for the bachelor’s degree, but master’s students usually successfully
combine regular class attendance with work. At the same time, master’s students
have practical skills as their target. The survey conducted has also revealed the
willingness of students to learn practical skills related to digital technologies. As the
study of educational programmes has demonstrated, courses mostly focus on
theoretical ideas regarding the opportunities and risks of new digital technologies.

The gap between the labour market demands and higher education should be
eliminated by a more extensive implementation of practical classes using digital
services and based on innovative technology. Here the proposal to create special
labs deserves special attention:

A Legal Profession lab could be taught in a computer lab to small groups of twenty
to twenty-five students so they could directly engage in material such as how to encrypt
an email and wireless communication, use a word processor without leaving meta-
data behind, building a marketing website, securely manage and delete client data
and other basic technical skills (Eicks, 2012).

However, in our opinion, it is not necessary to emphasise technical equipment.

Instead, emphasis should be placed upon the content of practical classes using
information and computer technologies. Although classes in a specially equipped
computer lab are an essential part of Russian legal education, they are not highly
efficient. The programmes that were mastered before (for example, Microsoft
Office) together with the ones easy to apply without any digital skills (for example,
reference databases) should be used by students.

Currently, students possess basic digital literacy together with various technical skills
for using devices. Therefore, they reasonably expect to obtain from the higher
educational process both the knowledge on innovative digital technologies and skills
to work with. Thus, relatively new educational methods are to be widely
implemented. These are computer or virtual simulators, which proved to be efficient
in different educational fields (Vahed et al., 2016). Computer simulation refers to
creating and studying the process of dynamic models in the framework of legal
systems and has been thoroughly examined since the end of the 20th century as an
efficient learning method (Widdison et al., 1997). However, as the related literature
on virtual simulation in legal education has indicated, the aim is to ‘create
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 69.

opportunity for social interaction between individuals and communities, create

personalised learning opportunities, a community presence and a sense of belonging
within the simulation community, likely to lead to deep learning’ (Thanaraj, 2016).

We suggest developing technical skills on digital platforms operating with virtual

simulators. With this assistance, students will learn to open cryptowallets, execute
cryptocurrency transactions, and arrange distributed ledger technology (DLT)
voting. Thus, students will better acquire not only theoretical knowledge but also
understand the nature of ongoing technical processes. Moreover, popular digital
platforms’ demos have been proposed to be involved in the educational process.

Hackathon training should be provided in addition to the use of computer

simulators. Hackathon refers to the event uniting programmers as well as other
specialists to develop a project(s) for a technological solution to a given problem. As
for the LegalTech hackathon, it provides a platform for lawyers and programmers’
cooperation to develop LegalTech projects, such as chatbots, mobile apps, and
calculators for providing legal services.

As mentioned above, some educational programmes for digital lawyers involve the
hackathon arrangement. The LegalTech hackathons are becoming increasingly
popular in Russia, but currently they are not included in educational programmes
for lawyers. Instead, they have exclusive LegalTech product development as a target,
which requires a high level of digital knowledge and skills. In our opinion, while
conducting the hackathon with educational purposes, students can acquire skills to
interact with programmers to set tasks, correct their realisation, and test the solution
efficiency. This approach will contribute to post-graduate skills of digital lawyers and
help meet employer demands.

In conclusion, the forms of studying offered should not be concentrated exclusively

within one or more educational courses. The task facing legal education is to ensure
that all graduates possess digital competencies depending on the stage of education
(bachelor’s, master’s, and advanced training courses) and specialisation (financial
law, notary, corporate law, etc.). Therefore, the training methods described above
should be harmoniously implemented into traditional educational programmes.
70 MEDICINE, LAW & SOCIETY.

5 Conclusion

The conducted survey revealed that professionals who possess digital skills in
addition to legal knowledge will be in demand in the labour market in the near future.
LegalTech has become an inevitable part of legal activity regardless of the
specialisation field. The results of the study investigating the opinions of law
professors, legal practitioners, and master’s students show that current and future
lawyers are aware of the changes in the legal profession caused by digitalisation and
understand the need to significantly change the educational process. At the same
time, we found that the respondents expect the educational process not only to focus
on providing knowledge of new digital technologies, but also on developing the
necessary skills and abilities to work with these technologies.

The comparative analysis of educational university programmes worldwide

confirmed the assumption that modern legal education does not fully meet the
growing needs of the labour market for legal professionals. The main challenge to
legal education that comes with digitisation is that future lawyers must acquire skills
to work with digital technologies. Digital competencies for legal profession
specialists are the solution to this challenge.

We believe that to develop common approaches to the selection of lawyers’ digital

competencies, it is necessary to create the Framework for the Digital Competence
of Lawyers, enabling them to use LegalTech in their activities.Computer or virtual
simulators are considered to be new methods to acquire skills to work with online
platforms, digital platforms demos, and LegalTech hackathons. These will lead to a
better understanding of ongoing processes together with a successful
comprehension of theoretical knowledge. As a result, digital literacy training for
lawyers within their professional field secures not only a high demand in the labour
market following graduation but also their further professional development.

Acknowledgments

This paper was written as part of the 2021-2024 Research project: »The rule of law in the digital
economy in China and Russia: current state, challenges and future development« (The Russian
Foundation for Basic Research and Academy of Social Sciences of China supported this research via
grant No: 21-511-93004\21)
Y. Kharitonova & L. Sannikova: Digital Transformation of Legal Education 71.

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