Certificate

Certificate of Mastery in Law Practice Technology
Institute for Information Law & Policy

Contact for more information:
Professor Daniel Hunter
daniel.hunter@nyls.edu

 

The Institute for Information Law and Policy will offer a “Certificate of Mastery in Law Practice Technology,” to be awarded as an honor upon graduation to students who have satisfied the following requirements:

1. Completion of the core curriculum required of IILP Harlan Scholars. (Intellectual Property and either Cyberlaw or Information Law)
2. Attainment of at least 4 law practice technology skills mastery awards administered by the IILP faculty, as more fully described below
3. Designation by a vote of the IILP faculty, shortly before graduation, as a student who has made a substantial contribution during the second and third years of law school to the work of the Institute.

The Certificate is available to all students, not just Harlans. It is intended to demonstrate to potential employers that the student awarded the certificate is unusually qualified with respect to understanding and use of technologies employed in law practice. It is also designed to encourage students to contribute to the Institute’s efforts to develop innovative legal technology applications and to better understand the potential impact of technology on law and legal institutions.

The new law practice technology skills mastery awards that form the core of the program are designed to encourage students to master technology skills that will prepare them for law practice and distinguish them as job candidates. Different students will have different baseline skills and interests – so the program is designed to allow flexibility but also to require and recognize a relatively high minimum level of accomplishment.

Each student seeking an award indicating mastery of a particular subject will submit a proposed plan to demonstrate such mastery to an IILP faculty member as early in his or her law school career as practicable, preferably at the beginning of the second year. Any IILP faculty member may approve such a plan and, having done so, must be available to determine whether it has been executed in a satisfactory fashion. Once the faculty member accepts the plan, the student will pursue the proposed plan and then report back to demonstrate its completion – at which point the faculty member will make the award. The IILP will provide some suggested plans and individual guidance to students who want to achieve mastery in particular areas. We anticipate that completion of the plan will take 2 years though, with diligence, the work can be completed over 1 year. The plan can be revised over the course of the student’s law school career to adapt to changing technologies or circumstances.

The IILP will also hold regular meetings of students who are pursuing technology skills mastery awards. These meetings will provide an opportunity to bring in outside experts, provide focused training on particular topics, and get students started on their mastery award plans. The IILP Lead Technologist and various IILP faculty members will take turns convening these meetings at which students will be given the opportunity to present their expertise. There will be no independent course credit given for attendance at these meetings or for achievement of a skills mastery award though skills mastery can be obtained for work done in the context of a course. Work-study research assistance may, where applicable, be combined with project work for the certificate.

 The topics for which awards may be given are as follows:

  • Web Master -- Create a complex web site or substantial and persistent weblog
  • Electronic Litigation -- Demonstrate mastery of an electronic discovery/evidence analysis tool
  • Advanced Electronic Litigation -- Demonstrate mastery of case mapping software
  • Courtroom Technology -- Develop an effective electronic courtroom presentation using audio, video and graphics
  • Information Management, including document assembly -- Use document assembly software to automate creation of a standard document used in a specific area of law practice
  • Law Teaching on the Screen -- Develop a training/teaching system in an area related to the IILP curriculum
  • Legal Expert Systems -- Develop a legal expert system
  • Advanced Legal Software Systems -- Develop innovative legal software (for law practice or law teaching)
  • Infrastructure -- Demonstrate mastery of network administration and web server configuration
  • Programming -- Demonstrate mastery of a programming language
  • Legal Simulation -- Create a legal simulation system
  • Advanced Infrastructure -- Demonstrate basic understanding of the architecture and operation of networks and computer hardware and software
  • DRM (Code as Law) -- Demonstrate basic understanding of digital rights management software
  • Virtual Worlds -- Demonstrate ability to build a legally related system in a virtual world
  • Encryption, Authentification and Identity -- Demonstrate mastery of authentication, encryption and online identity systems
  • Online Transactions -- Demonstrate mastery of cross firm online deal room systems
  • Back Office -- Demonstrate mastery of a specialized legal software system (e.g., electronic licensing systems, corporate governance systems, practice management systems)
  • Online Dispute Resolution – Demonstrate mastery of advanced online dispute resolution systems or develop a new one
  • eGoverment – Contribute to the development of new systems for bringing governmental institutions online

Students may propose, and a vote of a majority of the IILP Faculty may accept, additional areas for awards.

Plans may take into account the student’s existing level of mastery. No specific minimum or maximum amount of effort is required to earn an award.

IILP Faculty: Professors Johnson, Mills, Noveck, Peritz, Sherwin, Stracher. Other faculty members can also participate in supervising tech law certificate projects.