For several years now, digital transformation has been changing the economic environment of various industries, sometimes with disruptive effects. However, apart from the partial modernisation of analogue activities, digitisation has until recently largely neglected the area of law.

This situation is changing: Under the collective term Legal Tech, various technical solutions are now offered at various levels of legal application. Progress, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence using cognitive computing or machine learning on the basis of large amounts of data, is increasingly capable of processing texts automatically and making legal assessments. Innovations such as blockchain technology and so-called smart contracts also raise expectations that legal relationships can be mapped with the aid of technical means.

However, the discussion so far lacks a reliable basis for predicting future developments in information technology. At present, there are no coherent and generalizable considerations about the actual potential of these developments for the application of law.

The project Legal Tech Education therefore investigates which possibilities and potentials information technology systems offer for the application of law at present or in the near future and what influence this will have on legal practice. Subsequently, an outlook will be given as to how the university can proactively accompany and shape any changes with regard to education-relevant content.

Through an interdisciplinary research approach of law and computer science, the legal working method is to be made accessible to a technical evaluation. In particular, it should be ensured that computer scientists and lawyers speak a common language.

In addition, an empirical study (survey/interviews) will determine the activity profile of commercial lawyers. Finally, it will be worked out how the requirement profile of lawyers will change in the future through the use of technology and how commercial law training can help shape this process.