Choosing a Law School Based on Tech Programs

By George Khoury, Esq. on December 07, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Choosing a law school isn't easy. It's almost as tough as getting chosen by one. Sure, a large number of law students will either be going to a hometown school, or whichever one will take them. But those with the academic credentials to be choosy might want to consider whether the school they choose can actually teach them about the newest and most innovative legal tech out there.

With the way legal tech is headed, schools are now offering courses that will help students learn about the newest innovations in the legal tech sector. And in some programs, the law students are the ones tasked with creating new legal tech to solve old legal problems. Which law school tech program is best for any given law student will depend on the course offerings and the student's interest. Luckily, Michigan State University has started an innovation index that may soon be much more useful for prospective students.

Several law schools are leading the way by offering courses and programs geared towards developing tech savvy lawyers with different focuses. Below, you can read about a few of the law schools that offer students the chance to learn to use, or build, innovative legal tech.

Learn to Use It

While nearly every law school now teaches students how to perform online research, there is so much more legal tech out there, it boggles the mind. And while you may expect some of the biggest names to be leading the way with teaching students to use the tech, only a handful actually teach practical, hands-on, ediscovery skills

John Marshall School of Law actually has one of the best ediscovery programs. And though  you might think: who really wants to be an ediscovery expert while they're still in school? The fact is that ediscovery is booming, and having hands on experience can land a recent grad a job. In one of John Marshall's offerings, it actually teaches students how to use one of the leading platforms, Relativity. Notably, its sister school, Cleveland-Marshall leads the way in offering in-depth courses on cybersecurity for the legal profession.

Seattle University School of Law not only offers a tech focused LLM, it has course offerings that cover a wide range of tech topics geared towards producing lawyers equipped to handle the needs of clients in the new tech-focused world.

Learn to Build It

If you're interested in being connected with the coders and innovators in order to develop the new tech, or if you want to learn to code, there are several top schools that have programs for you. One of the leading law schools in the nation, Stanford, located in Silicon Valley, has CodeX, which is a program students can participate in to help develop the latest and greatest in legal tech alongside other professionals. UC Hastings recently introduced a program that similarly is geared towards getting students involved in creating real innovations.

If you are actually so interested in tech that you're considering choosing a school based on the tech course offerings, take a look at the new innovation index (as even MSU's incomplete data is still helpful) and really take the time to comb through each school's actual course selection.

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