Course Information
This course focuses on the development of the professional skills for the legal practitioners the field of law and digital technologies.
Fast paced development of the digital technologies continuedly changes the society. Professional skills lawyers need in their work to deal with such transformation changes as well. In particular, for the legal professionals working for the technology companies, or law firms that represent such companies, need not only some understanding of the technologies these companies produce, but also how to communicate legal requirements with the designers and engineers of these technologies for them to implement. Similarly, legal professionals who advise governmental, or international policy with regards emerging technologies need to understand what (ethical) values are explicitly, or implicitly promoted and challenged by them. Practicum module #1 – Value Sensitive Design (VSD) – entails practical engagement of the students into a hypothetical technology design process.
Moreover, since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and massive upscale of the internet technologies, privacy has become the buzzword, also in the legal domain. Some graduates of the advanced master’s programs continue their work as privacy councils or under the supervision of data protection officers (DPO) in various technology companies, where one of their central duties is to draft the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA). Practicum module #2 trains the students for drafting DPIAs. Both VSD and DPIA modules will be conducted together with the experts from Considerati – acknowledged privacy consultancy in the Netherlands.
Products and services of digital technologies also necessitate a very specific engagement with the contracts. Such contracts include ones for software development, or licensing for support, maintenance, outsourcing, contracts for could services (software-as-a-service, SaaS) or e-commerce. Practicum module #3 – ICT Contracts – will train students in drafting the some of these various ICT related contracts.
Finally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the digital technologies that has emerged to transform most markets and businesses. Practicum module #4 consists of conducting an Assessment List for Trustworthy AI (ALTAI) for surgery robots. The assignment will include guidance on how to conduct the legal assessment alongside the trustworthiness assessment.
Course Requirement
Master Degree
Timetable
The timetable of this course will be available for students in Brightspace
The practicum will be divided in four modules in following blocks:
Practicum module #1 – Value Sensitive Design (VSD) – end of block 1 (October)
Practicum module #2 – Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) – end of block 2 (January)
Practicum module #3 – ICT Contracts – end of block 3 (March)
Practicum module #4 – Robot Impact Assessment (ROBIA) – end of block 5 (May)
Brightspace
More information on this course is offered in Brightspace
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory as specified in Article 5.1 of the Course and Examination Regulations of the Master of Laws Advanced Studies Programmes.
Examination Method
In each of the practicum modules, students will have to perform various group or individual assignments. Students will be assessed via pass/fail grade.
Contact information
Programme Coordinator
Ms Patricia Garcia Fernandez
Telephone number: 0031- 71 527 4228
E-mail: lawanddigitaltechnologies@law.leidenuniv.nl
Disclaimer:
Should there be any future extenuating circumstances which may impinge our teaching and assessment, these could necessitate modification of the course descriptions after 1 September. This will only happen in the event of strict necessity and the interests of the students will be taken into account. Should there be a need for any change during the course, this will be informed to all students on a timely basis. Modifications after 1 September 2023 may only be done with the approval and consent of the Faculty Board and Programme Director.