Preparing the Next Generation of Tech-Ready Lawyers

Legal Analytics and Innovation Initiative Gives Students a Competitive Advantage

Technology is constantly evolving. Its applications impact nearly all industries, including how attorneys practice law. From Artificial Intelligence (AI) and document automation to project management and application interfacing, understanding how technology impacts the practice of law is becoming increasingly essential for legal professionals.

Georgia State University College of Law faculty understand this need and designed the Legal Analytics & Innovation Initiative (LAII) to equip students with the competitive skills desired by law firms and other companies that align with the emerging technological environment.

“As faculty, we realized we need to be forward-thinking about incorporating technology into our curriculum. Students must understand new areas of law that arise from or are significantly altered by technological advances, like cybersecurity, privacy and AI. They also must understand how these advances change the practice of law,” said Kris Niedringhaus, associate dean for Law Library, Information Services, Legal Technology & Innovation.

“Knowing what types of technologies exist and what solutions are possible can be a massive asset. If we can give our students this experience and knowledge, when they get jobs, they may be who the firm looks to when adopting new technology.”

Niedringhaus also serves as faculty director of the LAII, which began in partnership with the Georgia State Robinson College of Business. Faculty members Anne Tucker, Charlotte Alexander and Ben Chapman laid the groundwork for the initiative, and Niedringhaus has helped transition it beyond legal analytics exposure to legal tech education that allows students to not just observe how law and technology interact, but also participate in the process.

Students develop new research methods and applications, evaluate legal technology and processes and think critically about their role in the future of legal technology, data and analytics.

Patrick Parsons, LAII executive director, shares Niedringhaus’ vision of advancing the LAII program so when students graduate, the skills, requirements and electives work together to provide a broad exposure to the universe of legal tech and in turn, prepare students to engage in a modern, tech-forward practice of law.

“You can’t divorce technology from the practice of law anymore. It’s an important topic that must be addressed at the law school level to help foster that understanding,” Parsons said. “Our number one goal with the LAII is to impart our students with an innovative mindset. Part of that goal is exposure to real-world tools and developing practical, real-world skills. We work very hard to build these skills into our courses, and we’re one of the front runners with our certificate programs.”

Niedringhaus, Parsons and other LAII faculty restructured the Certificate in Legal Analytics & Innovation in 2022 to incorporate more legal technology experience and expertise, in a more generalized way. The certificate now offers two paths: Legal Analytics and Technology and Innovation. Both offer a highly structured curriculum to ensure a definable set of skills after graduation.

Before selecting a path, students take “Introduction to Legal Technology and Innovation” to establish a foundational understanding of different legal technology topics. The course also emphasizes practical skill development. For example, an entire class is devoted to technology evaluation. Twice in the semester, students are assigned product reviews where they develop a rubric and evaluate a technology solution for the needs of a hypothetical law firm.

Both certificate tracks have skill-based requirements that the LAII faculty developed to help ensure graduating students possess the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities of someone starting in the field. To fulfill credit requirements, students can elect from cutting-edge technology classes already provided at the College of Law—like Blockchain and Smart Contracts, E-Discovery, Privacy Law, Cyber Security and Technology and Ethics.

In the Legal Analytics path, students learn to identify patterns using big data analytics. This includes text mining, machine learning, image analysis and other research methodologies. Each student participates in the Georgia State University Library’s Research Data Services (RDS) micro-credentialing workshops. The skills they learn are reinforced in the other courses.

Students in the Technology and Innovation pathway develop a sophisticated knowledge of how technologies, systems and innovation affect and progress the practice of law; as well as how to use, implement and evaluate these technologies.

“LAII courses expose students to other parts of legal practice that law students usually don't see. By thinking outside the box, students become much better problem solvers, which benefits them and their future employers and clients,” Parsons said. “When confronted with a problem that historically required a brute-force solution, we want our students to remember that technology may offer an innovative, tech-driven way forward.”

Parsons also teaches a two-credit online course “Legal Tech Competency and Operations,” which is open to all law students. He created the course based on feedback from the legal community that students should be more proficient in basic Microsoft Office and Adobe tasks. Clients were getting frustrated by the exorbitant amount of time billed to create various materials with these tools. The course helps students better understand how to create legal documents, data visualizations and reports to generate firm profitability using Word, Excel and PDFs.

Overall, student reviews of the LAII program and its courses have been exceptionally positive. Feedback across the board indicates that students appreciate not only what they are learning, but how different the classes are from their traditional doctrinal courses.

At first, Zach Mickelson (J.D. ’24) was skeptical of his ability to get through the LAII program, since the work is vastly different from other law school curriculum. He doesn’t have a coding background but believes in the potential of technology to benefit both the practice and accessibility of law. He recently received the Legal Analytics certification. He credits faculty with making his experience worthwhile.

“Once I was through those first growing pains, I found that the atmosphere in the College of Law’s analytics community is very collegial. Everyone helps everyone—and everyone struggles. The professors are all passionate about the material and have cultivated a wonderful environment that makes the material enjoyable to learn,” he said.

 

Engaging Legal and Tech Communities

Both LAII certificates include a required capstone experience. Through the Institute for Insight Legal Analytics Lab, an initiative of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, law students engage in the design, coding and application of a real legal analytics project. Known as the “data guy,” academic professional Daniel Quiggin, teaches the course.

“Before coming to the law school, I had spent quite a bit of time designing and teaching classes on data analysis,” Quiggin said. “My focus is less on memorizing arcane mathematical formulas and more on statistical concepts and practical use…How you might encounter the idea of statistical significance in the courtroom, and what you should keep an eye out for if someone tries to invoke it.”

Michelle Dewey, legal technologies librarian, created the Legal Process Engineering (LPE) capstone course through a partnership with Am Law 100 firm Baker & Hostetler. After seeing an ad for applicants for Baker & Hostetler’s legal process engineer position, Dewey approached the firm about creating a course to help prepare law students for technology-related jobs.

It’s one of the nation’s first legal process engineering courses, focusing on how legal organizations can develop technologies and processes to help create competitive advantages and reduce overhead in their operations. By partnering with the law firm, students also learn how to prepare idea pitches, run project teams, work collaboratively and produce polished business deliverables. Dewey said students also learn skills to fill roles beyond a practicing attorney—such as legal technologist, process engineer or data analyst.

Baker Hostetler will partner with the College of Law again for the spring 2024 LPE course, and students will also work with Georgia Legal Services Program as a client.

“Integrating the tech learning with public service seems like a natural fit for the College of Law,” Dewey said. “This opportunity allows us to explore ways students can gather legal tech skills to implement in the access to justice space. Students gain a hands-on learning opportunity to solve real problems, while simultaneously offering support to some of the most in-need legal services organizations—and in turn, Georgians who may not have access to the judicial system.”

Dewey also is faculty adviser of the Legal Analytics & Innovation (LAI) student organization. LAI encompasses all facets of legal tech and provides an opportunity for students who are interested in this space, but not in the certificate program, to have access to the conversations happening around legal tech.

 

A Competitive Edge

Technology is the lens the LAII explores modern legal practice through, and College of Law graduates are putting that into practice. Graduates are filling roles such as Knowledge Manager, Data Scientist and Head of Innovation within large firm settings, as well as developer and project management roles at legal innovation startups. Practicing attorneys are bringing an innovative mindset to traditional settings where they are better poised to work with technology used and desired by their clients to improve their own operational efficiency.

Dewey is now focused on finding ways the LAII can help connect students with tech internships and build a stronger network of the LAII alumni—many who have shared that the LAII certificate and courses are the top things employers want to talk about during interviews.

Chantal Wynter-Jackson (J.D. ’25) recognizes the importance of being able to incorporate technology in a variety of practice areas. She is pursuing the Technology and Innovation pathway of the certificate and appreciates the hands-on learning, along with the opportunity to brainstorm innovative ways to solve various problems other legal professionals have experienced.

“Technology is here to stay and will transform the legal industry,” she said. “The concepts we learn are relevant to the current legal market and align with legal trends. The professors are clearly passionate about the subject area and are driven to produce technology-ready lawyers that embrace and integrate technology into the legal field.”

Regardless of how many courses a student takes, the goal of the LAII is to better prepare them for their future as attorneys. Even students with a more traditional attorney career path have noted the value of the problem-solving, business writing and design-thinking skills they developed in these classes. These solutions offer huge time and cost savings in the business of law.

According to Niedringhaus, the plan is to grow the LAII program and reach as many students as possible along with practicing attorneys and others interested in technology.

“We want to meet people where they are—either through the certificate, a course or workshop. Offering a variety of educational opportunities will reach more professionals with information on how technology can make their work more efficient, effective and even improve work-life balance.”

-Written by Holly Cline