2010-12-14-3b33b84b5f5e510031cb5f84e3660fcb51563e1385

Educating the Digital Lawyer

Oliver Goodenough
Oliver Goodenough at Vermont Law School

Preparing Lawyers for the Digital World

As every professional sector embraces technology, it is no surprise that a similar trend is slowly beginning to happen in the legal world. Already in this tough economy, we see clients looking for flat rate, piecemeal legal services, that can easily be broken apart from traditional lawyering and offered through digital means. Firms, also looking to increase their cost savings, recognize that a brick-and-mortar-less practice will only help their bottom lines.

But in world that is increasingly moving towards digital interaction, what will it mean to be a lawyer? More specifically, what will it mean to be a “Digital Lawyer”?

In a soon-to-be-released book project entitled Educating the Digital Lawyer, editors Oliver Goodenough and Marc Lauritsen have compiled writings and analysis from a number of legal experts and professionals to consider questions related to this inevitable trend in the legal field.

Who is hiring the Digital Lawyer and what do they want? What gaps exist in the current legal education curriculum and what changes need to be made so that law students are fully equipped to succeed in an ever increasingly digital work environment?

The book delves in to these questions and provides a starting point for further consideration of legal education, developing digital curriculum, and leveraging technology to increase access to law in the developing world.