Dean Soledad Atienza on legal tech and the future of law

Soledad Atienza, Dean of IE Law School, recently shared her thoughts on what will be the biggest challenges for law students and legal professionals in the next five to ten years. “Law students and future jurists will have to train themselves to manage the legal aspects of a globalized and digital society. A global economy requires transnational legal services and a digital world requires legal professionals—whether they be lawyers, judges or academics—who can understand, analyze and formalize the legal implications of digitization.” 

In this regard, Atienza underlines the importance of a globally-oriented legal education for current law students that can prepare them to adapt to the particularities of a digitized society.

Moreover, Dean Atienza described the current implementations and impacts of technological strategies in the legal sector. Transformations in legal services due to innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence are changing the way law is practiced, rendering “the profession more efficient, allowing professionals to focus on particularly pressing legal issues and producing a positive impact on clients.”

Indeed, Atienza noted that “many law firms, particularly international and large corporate law firms, are already experimenting with the benefits of investing in legal tech.” Room for expansion remains, however. In any case, Atienza emphasizes that all lawyers—from those in large firms to those working in local and boutique firms—will benefit from incorporating more technology into their practice and services.

In recognition of this transformation of the law sector, IE Law School is working to promote technological knowledge and to develop projects with a social and economic impact. As a “transversal, global and multidisciplinary law school,” IE Law School has plans to further enrich the training of its students through technology-based immersive experiences. Dean Atienza specifies that “technologies such as Extended Reality (XR), an emerging interface that acts as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds and that includes Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)” will be included in course offerings in the upcoming academic year.

“This approach to the use of technology is a new step for our institution, which works to promote positive change through education, innovation and research. We offer technology courses in all of our programs—bachelor’s, master’s and executive education—and we expect our students to analyze and reflect on the new legal challenges that can arise from a digitized society—from cybersecurity to privacy; from smart contracts to the regulation of the new work environment.”

Announcing IE University Faculty of Law’s exciting launch of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence for Law and Automation (Lawtomation JMCoE), “an initiative co-funded by the European Commission” with a focus on “E-justice, Automated State and Algorithmic Bosses,” Dean Atienza reminded students of the foundational place lawyers have in the way the world is organized and run:

“Lawyers, as architects of society, are bound to contribute to the resolution of global social problems. At IE Law School, where we are characterized by our commitment and passion, we continually rethink higher education and are reinventing the legal education of the twenty-first century.”