Instructional goals
Technology is arising legal issues and changing the practice of law in all fields. The course will provide the students with the theoretical knowledge and case-study approach to understand these changes and to positively influence responses, as legal experts, to some of these challenges. To be able to critically identify, evaluate, and analyze the latest challenges to the law brought by new (emerging) technologies, and eventually apply legal principles to solve them, is a crucial skill on the job market today.
Prerequisites
None
Intended learning outcomes
Successful completion of the course will enhance students’ capabilities in critical thinking and analysis in relation to tech-related field of law in general and build up students’ practical skills in addressing cutting-edge cases that concern law and technology.
At the end of the course, students should have acquired basic knowledge in the field, in order to be prepared for the third year of Global Law, were many topics will be analysis in depth, according to the major elected.
Course Contents
The course will be divided in the following parts:
A) Introductory part: Law and (Emerging) Technology
B) The reasons of the citizens: Data protection, data management and AI
C) The reasons of the market and economic operators: Innovation through emerging technologies and the challenge of protecting Intellectual property rights
D) The reason of the State: Technology, Regulation and Public Law
E) Focus
The weekly topic of Tech Law will be introduced the week before from a technical point of view, in order to prepare the students to tackle the legal issues behind each technology.
Reference Books
Course books
E. Lievens, S. Vershaeve, C. Vander Maelen (eds), An introduction to Law and technology, Owl Press, 3rd ed, 2024: chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 (chapters are normally quite brief)
Selected chapters by Bartosz Brożek, Olia Kanevskaia, Przemysław Pałka (eds.), Research Handbook on Law and Technology, EE, 2023 (see details in each week).
The two textbooks are complementary. Especially the selection of chapters from the second book is provided to combine the descriptive analysis of the course-topics with a more critical and research-oriented understanding.
Ppt presentations may be provided by the teachers at their discretion.
Suggested readings may be provided week by week for the weekly simulation/seminar/testimonial discussion.
Teaching Methods
On the one side, frontal classes will be provided.
On the other side, typical law and technology issues and concrete case/scenarios are also selected and simulated to provide students with a practical approach and an international and comparative perspective. Student volunteers can intervene in class, based on suggested readings for the week.
A small-group activity will be also proposed (i.e. case-law analysis, benchmarking analysis, risks-assessment).
Some testimonials will be offered during the course (to be communicated in advance).
Assessment Method
Mixed methods:
25% (constant attendance as prerequisite):
active participation during classes and simulations
group-work and final presentation
75 % final exam with a special focus on those topics not covered by the intermediate test, for those who have proved of being prepared, and the possibility to discuss individually the group-work.
*The intermediate test is PASS (>24/30) or FAIL (< 24/30). The intermediate test only exonerates from half of the programme the day of the oral exam.
*In the evaluation for the attribution of the highest score (30L/30), the specific performance in the intermediate test will be taken into consideration by teachers.
Thesis assignment criteria
Serious and motivation interest to study the topics of the course. Individual interview.
Week 1
Introduction (Part 1)
Law and (Emerging) Technology
First class:
Tech Law: Definitions, Actors, Concepts
Second class:
How the Internet Works: protocols, IP, DNS, network basics
Third class:
Networks, Legal Database Research
- Ch. 1 and 3 book “An introduction to Law and technology”
- Ch. 1-2 book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology”
Week 2
A) Introduction
Law and (Emerging) Technology
First class:
Tech, Human Rights & Public Law: Freedom of expression and Digital discrimination
Second class:
Basics of cryptography: symmetric/asymmetric, hashing, techniques for data anonymization and pseudonymization
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 4 or 6 and 7 or 19 book “An introduction to Law and technology” (the alternatives to be selected by the student according to her/his interests)
Week 3
B) The reasons of the citizens
Data protection and data management
First class:
Privacy and data protection rights
Second class:
Cybersecurity: CIA triad, authentication methods, firewalls, intrusion detection, malware, phishing
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 5, 8-13 book “An introduction to Law and technology”
- Ch. 13 book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology”
Week 4
B) The reasons of the citizens
Data protection and data management
First class:
Cybercrime and cybersecurity
Second class:
Intro to AI, history, Turing Test, Machine Learning vs Deep Learning vs GenAI, recommendation systems
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 21, book “An introduction to Law and technology”
- Ch. 12 book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology”
Week 5
C) The reasons of the market (economic operators)
Innovation through emerging technologies (AI case) and Intellectual property rights
First class:
Artificial Intelligence, applications, guarantees;
Second class:
Supervised/unsupervised learning, clustering, neural networks, data work;
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 26 or 27 book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology” (to be selected by the student according to her/his interests).
Week 6
C) The reasons of the market (economic operators)
Innovation through emerging technologies (AI case) and Intellectual property rights
First class:
Artificial Intelligence and intellectual property rights;
Second class:
Prompting basics, platform infrastructures;
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 20 or 29 book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology” (to be selected by the student according to her/his interests).
Week 7
D) The reason of the State (or of the regulator)
ETs, regulation and public law
First class:
Market, regulation and digital platforms
Second class:
Intermediate Test
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 2, 22, 23, 24 and 26 book “An introduction to Law and technology”
- Ch. 4 or 9 book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology” (to be selected by the student according to her/his interests).
Week 8
D) The reason of the State (or of the regulator)
ETs, regulation and public law
First class:
Consumer protection and digital services
Second class:
API, wireless communication architectures
Third class:
Seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 26, book “An introduction to Law and technology”
- Ch. 9 or 11 Book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology” (to be selected by the student according to her/his interests)
Week 9
D) The reason of the State (or of the regulator)
ETs, regulation and public law
First class:
The regulation of the space economy, Space-based technologies, innovation procurement: potentialities, risks and challenges
Second class:
seminar/simulation/testimonial
Third class:
Blockchain technology
- Ch. 17 and 20 book “An introduction to Law and technology”
Week 10
E) Focus
Blockchain, smart contracts and the Public Sector.
First class:
Blockchain: applications (smart contracts and public services)
Second class:
Digital Productivity and Office Automation Tools: fundamentals and AI support for legal professionals
Third class:
seminar/simulation/testimonial
- Ch. 21 and 30 Book “Research Handbook on Law and Technology”
Week 11
E) Focus
Digital Assets
First class:
Mapping and Understanding Digital Assets.
Second class:
Stablecoins: Genius Act versus MiCAR
Third class:
Central Bank Digital Currencies: Towards the Digital Euro
Materials to be assigned
Week 12
Students’ presentations: group-work (modalities to be illustrated during the course, after the intermediate test).