Norton Rose Fulbright develops Law & Tech module with University of York

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has partnered with the University of York to develop a new Law & Technology module.

The elective module is open to 40 third year law and computer science honours students, divided equally between the two disciplines. The course requires students to propose and build prototype solutions that can help narrow the access to justice gap. The module will be taught using Problem Based Learning (PBL) techniques and will be predominantly group-assessed. The Law & Technology module will be introduced into the curriculum in January 2020 and will include members of the Norton Rose Fulbright team running masterclasses.

Norton Rose Fulbright and the University of York will collaborate with BRYTER for this module. BRYTER is a no-code platform that enables its users to model and automate complex decision processes and workflows, without any programming knowledge. The platform breaks the software development process into different concrete steps allowing to build, test, deploy and update digital applications with ease.

Jeremy Coleman, Norton Rose Fulbright’s EMEA innovation manager, commented:

“The University of York has an exceptional reputation for innovation in learning and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to work with leaders from the law and computer science faculties to develop this ground-breaking module. Opening up the industry to new ways of working is increasingly valuable, as legal teams become multidisciplinary and skillsets adapt. Our Newcastle Hub is a prime example of where such teams and skillsets do merge.”

The cross-disciplinary nature of this module will expose law students to the process of creating solutions using technology and give computer science students exposure to a new area of challenging problems.

Professor J Scott Slorach, Director of Learning and Teaching and Chair – Board of Studies, University of York, commented:

“Digital transformation is shaping every field of commercial activity. This new legal practice and technology module will give our students real insight into how technology is transforming the business of law as well as practical project-based experience. We look forward to continuing to work with Norton Rose Fulbright on the future development of this course.”

The University of York Law School has an international reputation for innovation in learning design, using problem-based learning extensively in its LLB, together with core modules on practitioner skills, and professionalism and ethics. York's Computer Science is a top 20 faculty and the two faculties are physically proximate, which will be important for face to face collaboration and development both within and outside formal workshops. The University’s law clinic provides potential for user testing of technology solutions developed by students to provide better access to justice.

Norton Rose Fulbright has a global change and innovation programme, NRF Transform. Recently the firm was awarded “most innovative technology initiative” at The Lawyer European Awards 2019. In 2018, the firm launched a graduate scheme focusing on business and legal operations.

For more information, please contact:

Kate Farrell, PR Manager
Tel: +44 20 7444 3724; Mob: +44 7515 324 290
kate.farrell@nortonrosefulbright.com