Law and Technology
| Module title | Law and Technology |
|---|---|
| Module code | LAW3112C |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Swastee Ranjan (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 70 |
|---|
Module description
Rapid developments in technological processes over the past few decades have had significant impact on the legal landscape and governance mechanisms. New technologies such as those concerning Big Data, artificial intelligence, LLMs, Internet of Things, blockchain, ‘smart’ technologies, predictive policing, have broadened the parameters of legal governance by re-considering traditional concepts of legal subjecthood, planning, property, contract, privacy, security, data and sustainability. This module examines these interlinkages through different case studies and provides a lens to scrutinise and analyse the ongoing changes that have become an everyday part of our lives.
The module will be assessed through a coursework essay (70%) and an oral poster presentation (30% ).
No pre-requisite or co-requisite modules will be required to choose this module.
Module aims - intentions of the module
1. Introduce different forms of new technologies that are changing law and legal institutions.
The module is intended to introduce students to the field of law and technology studies. While this sub discipline has a rich history, its significance today cannot be overlooked. Over the past few decades, the rapid pace of development and innovation in communication and digital technologies have not only altered how we live but has also been instrumental in shaping matters concerning law, governance, politics and society. This module explores these new technological developments by considering its role in shaping Law both as an academic discipline as well as a professional practice.
2. Emphasize the importance of ‘how’ technology works – especially by encouraging skill developments, that are key skills for future employability.
While students will be introduced to different aspects of this field, they will also be encouraged to cultivate technology enabled and related skills, such as drafting a smart contract or using programming languages (Python) etc. In so doing, the module intends to encourage self-learning and create more awareness regarding the processes that underline technologies.
3. Provide a critical and analytical lens to evaluate the challenges faced by these developments particularly in relation to environmental law, property law, planning law and human rights law.
4. While the course is law-focused, it is designed for students of various interdisciplinary backgrounds.
5. A significant part of this module is also intended to run as a co-taught module, drawing on the dynamic expertise of our academic staff.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Employ advanced skills to conduct independent research.
- 2. Demonstrate a clear, in-depth understanding of the relevant domestic and (where appropriate) international legal framework, regulatory sphere and governing policy of law and technology.
- 3. Demonstrate a clear, in-depth understanding of the domestic and international efforts designed to address the current problems in the topics covered.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Display an understanding of the complex and specialised area of knowledge and skills in the interdisciplinary area of law and technology.
- 5. Consolidate professional and personal ethics in the context of law and technology.
- 6. Develop new technological legal skills and foundational commercial and technological awareness.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Ability to identify and analyse legal doctrines, principles, and opinions to assess their validity and merit.
- 8. Ability to think critically about the rules, principles, and concepts of the current state of technology regulations.
- 9. Ability to synthesise ideas often from contradictory sources where various legal and normative positions are concerned.
Syllabus plan
This module is principally focused on the UK legal system but can take a comparative regulatory approach, in considering the influence and/or competing approaches of international jurisdictions and bodies. Students will engage in a critical analysis of the topics covered, consider the relevant jurisdictions, and develop a sufficient understanding of the modern and shifting approach, dealing with the interaction between law and technology. The design and teaching approach of the Law and Technology Module allows students to learn different skills and equip them with intellectual knowledge from different members of the academic staff.
Lectures and Seminars Proposal:
The module introduces students to different sites of Law and Technology, addressing normative, conceptual and practical challenges. This is a co-taught module, with 10 lectures (of 1.5 hours) and 8 seminars (1.5 hours). Two of these seminars will address assessment and skill development.
The proposed plan for the course is as follows:
Week 1: Introduction to Law and Technology – Data and Cloud Computing
Week 2: Law, Technology and Environment – Smart Cities – Planning Law
Seminar 1: Smart Cities
Week 3: Law, Technology and Environment – ‘Governing Nature’, Climate Change and Technological Solutions
Seminar 2: Employability Skill Seminar
Week 4: Law, Society and Technology I: Automated Decision Making
Week 5: Law, Society and Technology II: Predictive Policing and Surveillance
Seminar 3: Automated Decision Making and Data Privacy
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Smart Contracts
Seminar 4: Smart Contracts
Week 8: Intellectual Property Rights I
Seminar 5: Assessment Seminar
Week 9: Intellectual Property Rights II
Seminar 6: Intellectual property Rights Seminar
Week 10: Law, Society and Technology II: Futures of Justice
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 125 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activity | 15 | Lectures (10 x 1.5 hours) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching activity | 8 | Seminars (6 x 1.5 hours) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching activity | 2 | Training (1 x 2 hours): For example, Python for Law Students, Legal Coding, Legal Automation |
| Guided independent study | 70 | Preparation of assignments. |
| Guided independent study | 55 | Preparing for workshops and reading around the topics covered, for the seminars. |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skill based reflection in the form of a 3-slide presentation. | 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | Written ELE2 |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | 0 | 30 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coursework | 70 | 2,500 words | 1-9 | Written ELE2 |
| Oral Presentation and Poster Submission | 30 | 1000 words | 1-9 | Verbal Feedback on the Oral presentation and a Written Feedback after the Poster Submission on ELE 2 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coursework (2,500 words) | Coursework (2,500 words) (70%) | 1-9 | Referral / Deferral period |
| Submission of the Oral presentation and Poster (1000 words) | Submission of the oral presentation and poster (1000 words) (30%) | 1-9 | Referral / Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Oral Presentation will need to be recorded and uploaded on ELE2. The poster and the essay will also need to be submitted through ELE2.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading
- The Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation and Technology by Roger Brownsword (ed.) et al. (latest edition).
- Legal Challenges in the New Digital Age by Ana Mercedes Lopez Rodriguez, Michael D. Green, and Maria Lubomira Kubica (latest edition).
- FinTech Law and Regulation by Jelena Madir (latest edition).
- Knowledge, Technology and Law by Emilie Cloatre and Martyn Pickersgill (latest edition).
- Routledge Handbook of Financial Technology and Law by Iris H-Y Chiu and Gudula Deipenbrock (latest addition).
- Tomorrow's Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future by Richard Susskind (latest edition).
- Open Banking by Linda Jeng (latest edition).
- Intellectual Property Perspectives on the Regulation of New by Tana Pistorius (latest edition).
- Technology v Technocracy: Fintech as a Regulatory Challenge by Saule Omarova (latest edition)
- Cryptoassets: Legal, Regulatory, and Monetary Perspectives by Chris Brummer (latest edition).
- Amoore, Louise. Cloud ethics: Algorithms and the attributes of ourselves and others. Duke University Press, 2020.
- Benjamin, R. Race after Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Cambridge and Medford: Polity Press, 2019.
- Brownsword, Roger, and Morag Goodwin. Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-first Century: Text and Materials. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- Hildebrandt, Mireille. Smart technologies and the end (s) of law: novel entanglements of law and technology. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015.
- Intellectual Property Office, Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: copyright and patents: Government response to consultation, 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/artificial-intelligence-and-ip-copyright-and-patents/outcome/artificial-intelligence-and-intellectual-property-copyright-and-patents-government-response-to-consultation#executive-summary
- Käll, Jannice. A posthuman data subject in the European data protection regime. Making MyData Real Working Paper Series 2/2017, 2017.
- Käll, Jannice. Posthuman property and law: commodification and control through information, smart spaces and artificial intelligence. Routledge, 2022.
- Kellogg, Katherine C., Melissa A. Valentine, and Angele Christin. "Algorithms at work: The new contested terrain of control." Academy of management annals 14, no. 1 (2020): 366-410.
- Kitchin, Rob. "Thinking critically about and researching algorithms." In The social power of algorithms, pp. 14-29. Routledge, 2019.
- Morozov, Evgeny. To save everything, click here: The folly of technological solutionism. PublicAffairs, 2013.
- Moses, Lyria Bennett. "How to think about law, regulation and technology: Problems with ‘technology’as a regulatory target." Law, Innovation and Technology 5, no. 1 (2013): 1-20.
- Keenan, Bernard. "Smart Technologies and the End (s) of Law." (2016): 733-738.
- Parsley, Connal. "Automating authority: The human and automation in legal discourse on the Meaningful Human Control of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems." In Routledge Handbook of International Law and the Humanities, pp. 432-445. Routledge, 2021.
- Ranchordás, Sofia. "The Invisible Citizen in the Digital State: Administrative Law Meets Digital Constitutionalism." In European Yearbook of Constitutional Law 2023: Constitutional Law in the Digital Era, pp. 15-40. The Hague: TMC Asser Press, 2024.
- Surden, Harry. "Artificial intelligence and law: An overview." Georgia State University Law Review 35, no. 4 (2019).
- Winner, Langdon. "Do artifacts have politics?." In Computer ethics, pp. 177-192. Routledge, 2017.
- Zuboff, Shoshana. "The age of surveillance capitalism." In Social theory re-wired, pp. 203-213. Routledge, 2023.
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages.
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- Any additional resources shared in lectures, workshops, and surgeries.
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 10/02/2023 |
| Last revision date | 21/02/2025 |
