Digitalisation in legal science and education: Merits, challenges, prospects

Critical reflections of a law lecturer who has been involved from the outset on what has and has not been achieved over four decades of digitalisation in legal science and education, as well as on those “achievements” that may not, in fact, be beneficial. Have the high expectations been met, and, if so, when and where? Was the rise of social media a progress or a challenge, and why is it now a threat? What about the often forced use of clouds and e-learning platforms? As regards students’ use of IT, more important than constantly introducing new digital instruments and functions is to better master the existing ones, especially the advanced functions of word processors. Law faculties should include in their curricula two mandatory courses on the general and specific use of digital instruments in legal research and writing. The author also points out the continuing shortcomings of specific legal software, databases and online resources. For example, the potential of smartphones for substantial scientific work instead of playing around is still waiting to be utilised. A critical look at the hype about artificial intelligence must not be absent. AI will certainly play a significant role in legal research and writing, but not in the close future and differently than expected. Its use is hampered by the problems of AI “hallucination” and political manipulation. Its rise will rather increase than lower the burden of students and assist but not take over the lecturer’s work. Decisive for its use in legal science and education is the integrity, impartiality and quality of the AI’s training.