Open Access Research Article
IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION & TECHNOLOGY ON LEGAL EDUCATION IN CONTEMPORARY ERA
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IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION
& TECHNOLOGY ON LEGAL EDUCATION IN CONTEMPORARY ERA
AUTHORED BY - SHREYA
JASORIA[1]
ABSTRACT
In India, from the Vedic
period onwards the concept of dharma is the guiding force in administration,
settlement of disputes and of the legal education. The imparting of formal
legal education had begun during the British period. Legal profession was
introduced with the establishment of Supreme court and High courts in Madras,
Bombay and Calcutta in 1726. Thereafter several colleges were started to impart
legal education so to prepare practicing lawyers and judicial officers for
subordinate courts.
In Post- independence era,
the Constitution of India provides that, it shall be the duty of the Central
government to fix standards of higher education. Matters relating to the
standards of higher education are entrusted to the Union Government under entry
66, List I of the 7th Schedule. But education forms part of List III, giving
concurrent legislative powers to the Union and the States. Legal profession
along with other professions fall under List III (Entry 26).
Globalization has thrown
up new challenges to legal profession. Globalization makes it increasingly
difficult for legal study to be contained within the territorial boundaries of
national legal systems. To meet challenges of globalization, a lawyer needs to
have a vision of emerging problems, zeal to serve the cause of justice and the
ability to forge new tools and techniques appropriate to the changing needs and
times. Technology is an enabling mechanism; it is not an end in itself. It can
be used effectively to enhance a system or a program that also involves in the
flesh face-to-face exchanges between students and professors.
KEYWORDS: Law, Justice,
Legal Education, Globalisation, Technology
I.
INTRODUCTION
Law pervades
everywhere and everything; it is
all-embracing and permeates every sphere of
life and society. Knowledge of law, both
professional and general, therefore, is indispensable for human
development.[2] Law education is
crucial for the proper administration of rule of law. Law, by its very nature,
is constantly changing and adapting to the needs of the society
around it and as the law changes, legal education must
change with it.[3]
Globalisation in the
modern sense is launched from the pad of
international legal order and not from missile silos. For
negotiating this, not just values and emotions but
skills and reasoning have to be important. It is in this context, we
need to take a relook of the content, curriculum and teaching methods
to meet the goals set out in our Constitution.[4]
The same was echoed by Justice A.M. Ahmadi when he said in a lecture, “I
think we have waited long enough to repair the cracks in
the legal education system of this country and it is
high time that we rise from our arm chairs and start the repair work
in right earnest.[5]
With globalisation,
the regulatory framework for legal education in India requires
profound changes to meet the emerging demands of the consumers
of legal services. Today, India stands integrated with the world
economic order in the era of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. The law students need to be taught and equipped with such
tools and techniques of the trade which render them power to face
this new globalised world order effectively, to which they are
exposed. This requires a cooperative and collaborative effort
which involves the academics, the Bar, the Bench, the
industry and the other stakeholders.[6]
Humanity has produced
enormous technical developments that have lowered barriers and unified people.
Globalisation has resulted in emergence of new transnational area in form of
Information technology law. In the current scenario and with the advent of information
technology, artificial intelligence, internet, computer, the
term legal education has attained multidimensional
meaning. Legal education in contemporary times has not remained
concise in terms of imparting the knowledge on law; rather it
connects its horizons to history, economy, polity, jurisprudence and therefore
it has attained a multidisciplinary approach.[7] In
the aftermath of the pandemic, the world is shifting to online methods of
learning and even the courts have adopted the online means to address cases.
Innovative advancements in technology and artificial intelligence have created
a unique opportunity to re-envision both legal education and the practice of
law.[8]
II.
LEGAL EDUCATION
i.
Importance of Legal Education
Legal education is
a sine-qua-non for the development of rule of law and a
sustainable democratic order. Legal education plays an important role in
developing lawyers who act as social engineers and work towards the cause of
nation building.[9]
The legal education is concerned with the basic philosophies,
ideologies, critiques and instrumentalities, and also
addresses the aspect of creation and maintenance of a just society.[10]
The policy of the legal education should be moulded with the
tune of rapid contemporary changes as the result of scientific and
technological development in the recent years. Legal education generally refers
to that education of lawyers before entering into the real practice. Legal
education in India is offered by the universities and by the specialized law
universities and schools after the completion of undergraduate degree or as
integrate degree.[11]
Legal education
caters to the institutional upbringing of a society based on law.[12]
The goal of legal education should be the pledge of Nehru when
India got freedom. He said: “The service of India means the service of the
millions who suffer. It means the ending of
poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality
of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to
wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are
tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.”[13]
Legal
Educational Institutions are not marketplaces; neither education is a
commodity traded on demand and supply. Institutions are knowledge
spaces and education is a value in itself to distinguish between
fair and unfair, just and unjust. It has to inculcate values like sacrifice, sensitivity
to sufferings, courage to fight for justice and fairness, to stand up
for the dispossessed and marginalized, the determination to stand
against the odds for the sake of justice.[14]
ii.
Historical Development
a. Ancient India
Anand J. observed
“Legal education is distinct to other streams
of education due to its significant contribution to
society and national integration. Legal education in
India could be traced as early as the Vedic age when it was essentially based
on the concept of Dharma. However, there is no evidence of any
formal legal education offered at that time. The training in law
was self-learning, and mostly the kings themselves dispensed justice.
Occasionally, judges were appointed to administer justice. These judges were
not formally trained in the administration of justice but were well known for
their ‘righteousness and justness’ and for following Dharma”.[15] He further stated
that “in the absence of need for trained legal professionals, there
was no institutionalization of legal education as a separate
branch, but the same could be said to have been imparted as a part of general education which
revolved around the notion of Dharma.[16]
b. British India &
Post-British Era
The modern
Indian legal profession dates from British rule with the
establishment of courts in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta in the year
1726. In pre-Independence India, the legal profession occupied a
dismal spot in society for a long time. The quality of students opting for law
had significantly deteriorated over the
years and legal education was
unimaginative and divorced from social context.[17] There was also a
clear distinction between English and Indian-trained lawyers, with
the former being given preferential treatment.[18] Moreover, while it is true that
many key political and executive posts were held by eminent,
native-trained lawyers[19], the state of the profession as a whole
was seen as unsatisfactory.[20]
Following the
country's independence, legal education ought to have undergone a radical
makeover in order for the legal profession and curriculum to actualize the
principles outlined in the Indian Constitution and bring about social,
economic, and political justice. Alas! The task was not taken up at the right
time, to fit in and to nurture the constitutional philosophy of
social justice. Legal education and profession since then
have lagged much behind and to a great extent has not even been able
to play its role as an effective means of providing justice.[21]
The legal education in India is presently regulated by
multiple agencies including the University Grants Commission (UGC)[22],
the Bar Council of India (BCI)[23],
the Government and the respective universities.
Traditionally, legal education in India was conducted through the medium of non-specialised
universities which granted law degrees like any other graduate degree. These
universities referred and taught the curriculum prescribed by
the BCI but since they were under the overall control and supervision
of the UGC and therefore it was not possible for the BCI to
effectively pursue reforms in legal education. The first concrete
decision to this end was taken in 1984 when various proposals to
modernise legal education were considered and approved
by the “Legal Education Committee”[24]
of the BCI, in an attempt to improve legal education throughout
India. One of the major proposals was the decision to establish specialised
institutions to impart legal education in an
integrated and diversified
manner. The first autonomous law school established to implement the reforms in legal education in India was the National Law School
of India University which was established in Bangalore which was followed by
the establishment of different National Law Schools. In present century,
technology has offered the attractive possibility of making legal education
both more efficient and more effective when the Law schools are facing a host
of difficulties like declining enrollments, declining job prospects for
graduates, reduced public funding, and understandable concerns about cost and
debt.
III.
INFLUENCE OF GLOBALISATION ON LEGAL EDUCATION
i.
Understanding globalization
Globalisation
in a sense is part of human history. One can benchmark the historical attempts
of such a phenomenon in the words of an African historian by three G's. The
first “G” wave was in the name of “GOD”, the medieval wars were
fought and wars on other parts ravaged. The second “G” wave
of Globalisation was in the name of “GOLD” — territorial conquest for
the riches and colonisation occurred and the third wave in
the name of “GLORY” was in terms of ideology, millions were spent on who will
first send the monkey to outer orbit. I would like to add that the fourth “G”
of Globalisation attempted now is on the name of “GROWTH” in terms of
trade and commerce.[25]
The crucial
difference between the earlier three G's and the fourth one is that earlier, attempts
relied on physical power; whereas, the current discourse
on globalisation is on the basis of international
law and compliance of national legal regimes. This brings
the legal fraternity to the centre stage of the current wave
of globalisation.[26]
Globalisation is
playing an important role in changing the entire polity and society.
To accomplish the imperative goal of the expansion of a knowledge-based
economy, the reform of legal education has become a priority.
Universities, across the world, are preparing themselves to face the challenges
of the globalisation in the changing climate of internationalisation
of education.[27]
Today we are living in the age of legal globalisation where
judges are required to be well aware of the concept of “convergence” between
constitutional concepts, economic concepts, corporate concepts and taxing concepts[28], in absence of which they
will not be able to do justice.
ii.
Implications of Globalization on Legal Education
Professor
William Twining[29] identifies
five developments in law which are result of globalisation:
·
increased emphasis on established transnational
fields, such as public international law, regional law, international
trade and finance,
environment law, international criminal law, law and development;
·
legal dimensions of global
issues;
·
transnational dimensions of core subjects such as
contracts, criminal law, family law, intellectual property and labour law;
· diffusion of
law through migration and interface of religious and customary practices with
law; and
iii.
Initiatives undertaken in light of Globalization:
Initiatives to
promote international perspectives include building
collaborations and partnerships with noted foreign universities for
award of joint/dual degrees; finding ways of evolving transnational curricula
to be taught jointly by a global faculty through video-conferencing and
internet modes; as well as creating international faculty, international
courses and international exchange opportunities among students are being
promoted in the light of Globalisation.
a. Global Curriculum-
To enable
Indian lawyers to compete in the transnational marketplace, law curricula has
included topics of universal application and provided education in new areas
like comparative law, information technology, intellectual property, corporate
governance, human rights, and international trade law.[31]
A greater exposure to foreign laws has not only prepared our graduates to
practice in an increasingly global environment, but has also equipped them with
a deeper understanding of the choices made by [their] own legal system, giving
lawyers and judges “more colors on their palates from which to choose in
fashioning creative solutions to modern legal problems.”[32]
b. Global Faculty-
Globalisation
has provided new opportunities to address the challenge of hiring good
faculties in law schools in India and abroad. Issues relating to the Indian
legal system are not only taught and researched in India, but also in many
other parts of the world.[33]
Growing numbers of Indian lawyers and scholars are involved in this effort
supported by our schools’ abilities to provide the right kind of intellectual
environment and financial and other incentives for Indian or foreign scholars
to teach and pursue research in India and to contribute to its growth story.
c.
Global Interaction
The law
schools have provided academic space for engaging in teaching and cutting edge
research on issues of global significance. The institutions have constantly
reinvented themselves for facing the challenges of globalization through
exchange and collaboration programmes which has different implications for
faculty, students, and for the development of teaching and research programmes.
iv.
Transformation of “Legal Education” to “Justice Education”
A New Order
should flame forth from the burning embers of Old Order in the new millennium
based on a new jurisprudence — socially relevant, purposive and just.
If such a value system is lost, the legal education and its
outcome could turn out to be a potential conduit to a new variance of
colonisation sans territorial control. The need of the hour is to set the goals
which should set the house in order to gear up for meeting the challenges
of globalisation.[34]
The “Present”
should be grounded in strong realities to plan for “Future” strategies. In such
context, we need to transform “Legal Education” as
“Justice Education”.[35] After all
“Law” is an instrument to attain “Justice” and hence it needs to be
broadened in its construct as “Justice Education”. Such an approach is essential to realise the ideals
set in the Constitution. For such a
vision, the process will involve translating the ideals as goals, strategising
the goals into appropriate
content and curriculum and infusing them with effective
teaching methods. If done, it will raise a new breed of professionally
equipped and socially relevant lawyers who will rise to become the
vanguard of the judicial system in the service of the society.
IV.
ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN LEGAL EDUCATION
The role
of legal education in India now has not just limited to
imparting legal knowledge to the students and making them budding
lawyers, judges, or legal academicians; but rather the role has
transformed to a bigger picture. The paradigm shift in
the legal industry, with the influx of technology has turned the
tables completely, the scope is not just limited to
books and paper but with prevailing contemporary situations, the world is becoming digital and with the advent of digitalization the legal world has entered into a completely different era. Prestigious law schools such as Harvard and MIT consider that “the Internet is set to enable the single biggest change in education since the printing press.”[36]
books and paper but with prevailing contemporary situations, the world is becoming digital and with the advent of digitalization the legal world has entered into a completely different era. Prestigious law schools such as Harvard and MIT consider that “the Internet is set to enable the single biggest change in education since the printing press.”[36]
It is at least clear that to the extent the use of technology involves
the regulation of human conduct, whether by legislation or rule-making, the
lawyer does have the obligation of formulating and drafting the laws and rules
by which men are to be governed. It is here that implications arise which have
a bearing on legal education.[37] Law schools play a
critical role in both the dissemination and production of knowledge and have a
unique opportunity (and responsibility) to re-envision the entirety of legal
education to more thoughtfully prepare future lawyers for the new techno-legal
world impacted by COVID-19.[38]
The developments in
technology is a major breakthrough into the field
of legal education where being tech savvy could save on
infrastructure and man power costs, and shall improve the
quality of services being delivered to the clients, which enables
better legal reasoning in time bound situations.[39]
i.
Technological Advancements in
Legal Education and Practice
-
Use of audio-visual techniques: An interesting alternative to conventional black board teaching is
using audio-visual techniques. The use of overhead projectors, slides,
cassettes, films on important cases etc. creates an interest in the students
because these devices have enormous communicative power.
-
Use of computers & Internet
facilities: With the advancement of science, a student with
a tip of his finger now can go through any judgements saving time and making
him enthusiastic to learn more. Internet facility is also another device where
a student of law can have an access to the recent developments on any law
across the continents.[40]
-
E-libraries: Universities have prioritized building comprehensive e-libraries with
access to a multitude of legal resources in addition to having well-built
library infrastructure on campus. Students who have remote access to databases like Manupatra,
SCC Online, Jstor, Ebsco, HeinOnline, and LexisNexis—stay up to date and get
ready for debates, legal drafting, moot court contests, and legal research.
-
Use of Artificial Intelligence: Artificial
intelligence has been implemented in the area of "knowledge
management" and predictive legal research.[41]
Law firms and lawyers across the
world have begun integrating law-based artificial intelligence systems into
their practice to improve efficiency and the delivery of lower-cost basic legal
services to clients.[42] IBM’s “ROSS” artificial
intelligence system, for example, has been touted as “the world’s first
artificially intelligent attorney.”[43] E-discovery technology
has also advanced to the point where an artificial intelligence system such as
Contract Intelligence (“COIN”) (a JP Morgan software program) can perform (in
mere seconds) document reviews of complex matters that used to require 360,000
human hours.[44]
Law-based artificial intelligence systems are able to more quickly and
accurately identify potential legal issues in a series of nondisclosure
agreements than seasoned contract attorneys.[45] Likewise, CaseMine has
developed CaseIQ, an artificial intelligence tool to assist with complex legal
research projects by allowing researchers to “obtain highly relevant search
results directly from a brief (or other associated legal document), bypassing
the need to reformulate case facts into searchable legal propositions.”[46]
-
Online Dispute Resolution: Our system of judicial adjudication has also been greatly impacted by
technology, with virtual courts and online dispute resolution (“ODR”) growing
exponentially over just the past few years.[47]
ii.
Rising Concerns due to Technological Advancements
-
The recent emergence of artificial intelligence technologies,
however, has also been seen as a threat to the future of legal education and
law practice, with concerns that such technologies tend to embed the social
biases of their coders while automating the functions of lawyers.[48]
-
Emerging machine-learning and predictive technologies are
often seen as an existential threat to both legal practice and education,
potentially eliminating the need for (human) lawyers to perform certain tasks
and services (such as basic legal research, the drafting of basic legal
instruments, etc.) while negatively impacting legal employment opportunities.[49]
iii.
Way Forward
-
To promote access to civil justice,
disruptive legal information technology should be adopted and a positive
right to access ELI be established. Electronic Legal Information
(ELI) refers to— (i) an integrated Electronic Law governing civil procedures
and other areas of substantive law; (ii) electronic legal document
filings and evidence; and (iii) electronic court case status information.[50]
-
The video conferencing
and other online mechanisms can be used as a mean to globalize law schools.
Indian Law schools can arrange foreign university faculties to teach their
students, even the law students from abroad can interact with Indian law school
students through video conferencing. And in such a way, students can experience
versatile areas of legal education and teaching environment. Indian
Universities can have a tie-up with foreign universities in this respect. The
out-turn herein is that students who otherwise could not have afforded the cost
of traveling to a foreign country would nonetheless have the opportunity of
learning from a foreign professor.[51]
-
Law schools must endeavour to create opportunities for law
students to work closely with Al programmers to develop and implement future
legal technology also enabling them to critically interrogate the assumptions
that underlie legal algorithms.[52]
-
In the light of above developments, one can conclude
that traditional legal education model
based in part on the transmission of information and descriptive knowledge
(which has now largely been displaced by technology) must give space to the new
legal education model based on critical analysis, creative problem-solving, the
exercise of independent judgment, and emotive client-based lawyering (which
cannot yet be so easily replaced by “narrow” systems of artificial
intelligence).[53]
V.
CONCLUSION
Since law is an organic
subject which changes with changing needs of the society,
the legal education should also adapt and develop
itself on an ongoing basis, to meet the ever changing and growing
demands of the society. It should be equipped,
comprehensively and systematically, to cater to the complexities of
different as well as changing scenarios and situations. Hence, law
has a significant role to play at this juncture of time in this era of globalisation when
each nation is trying hard to control knowledge and to adapt itself
to new situations.
Any dogmatic adherence to
the old, traditional and existing system would be suicidal in the
days ahead. So, a balance should be maintained in order to change the entire
fabric of legal education system in India, keeping in mind the
necessity of globalisation and technological advancements.
“Legal Education” as
“Justice Education” in the new millennium has to prepare the law students
to become the “frontier men” of legal education. On them lies the
responsibility to liberate legal education from its shackles. We
have to prepare them to place their skills at the service of the people.
With an era
of globalisation, it is true that the country will have a technological
push but along with that an ethical push is also imperative for any civil
society. Reaching the unreached and including the excluded within the
domain of justice should be the goal of real legal education in
the country. In the era of globalisation, the challenges
for legal education are daunting but the law schools of the day
have to rise to the occasion. Legal education has to respond to
the call of justice, social, economic and political; today. Tomorrow
may be too late[54]
In a democratic country, like India, to meet the challenges
of the legal knowledge domains of the 21st
century, legal education must conform to the ideas of
innovation, information sharing, knowledge application and its
management at professional and institutional levels. The quality legal education is the most important factor for the
protection and development of democratic and principle of social justice
underlying the Constitution. The quality legal education only can produce
responsive and sensitive legal professionals. The success and healthy
development of law profession solely depends upon the effective legal
education. Thus it is the solemn duty of the government, Law Schools,
Universities, Bar Councils and Bar Associations to play significant and
meaningful role in promoting legal education.
Article Information
IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION & TECHNOLOGY ON LEGAL EDUCATION IN CONTEMPORARY ERA
Authors: SHREYA JASORIA
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2024/04/07
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Access Open Access
- License CC 4.0
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