How Hong Kong’s law schools are adapting their curricula to equip postgraduates with skills to handle new types of tech-linked cases, from online scams and identity theft to cybersecurity breaches:
The courses also cover ethical implications of AI in law, and practical training to prepare graduates for roles as legal technologists and cybersecurity advisers
To outside observers, the legal profession may seem rooted in long-held tradition and practice, but behind the scenes, major changes are being prompted by the need to keep pace with technology.
As a result, law schools in Hong Kong are adapting too, adding courses and relevant training to ensure postgraduate students have the future skills essential for success in their chosen careers.
There are two aspects to this shift. One is the way that advances in digitalisation are having a marked impact on how the offices of law firms and barristers’ chambers operate day to day. The other is that new types of tech-linked cases, involving anything from online scams to identity theft and cybersecurity breaches, require a higher level of specialised insight and expertise to bring them to a resolution.
“In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, it is important for legal professionals to be adept in the traditional skills and proficient in technology,” says Professor Sida Liu, associate dean (taught postgraduate programmes development) at the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) Faculty of Law. “Skills in data analytics and an understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly useful for lawyers, and in some areas of legal practice, such as intellectual property, they have become essential.”