Job DescriptionThe assistant professor will be part of two departments: the department of business studies and eLaw, the center for law and digital technologies. At the intersection of these research groups, you will focus on education and research in the area of LegalTech. Legal practice is increasingly adopting new technologies in daily practice, for instance, technologies that can do information retrieval, legal research, interpret legal provisions on the basis of available case law, build smart contract, build scenarios in criminal cases, weigh available evidence, or predict decisions of courts and judges. These technologies, often built on artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology, are referred to as legal technologies, LegalTech in short. These developments are rapidly changing the work of lawyers, both in legal practice and in academic research. However, Dutch law faculties pay only limited attention to LegalTech in their research and education programs. Most of de research and teaching takes place in (computer) science departments. Since legal technologies are often very specific when it comes to language and jurisdiction, so far only limited tools, knowledge and experience is available in the Netherlands. By examining developments in other jurisdictions, a clearer picture can be obtained of developments in the Netherlands. Building on this, new courses and teaching materials will be developed to implement in law curriculums. The focus will be on the following research question:
Which current and envisioned legal technologies are relevant to include in our law school curriculums and how should we implement this? The assistant professor will identify and analyze the most relevant existing legal technologies for the Dutch market. By examining developments in other jurisdictions (mostly the US), an analysis will be made of the technologies that can be expected to be available in the Dutch market in the next 5-10 years. Establishing a clear overview of this landscape can serve as a solid basis for developing a new course on this topic and the teaching materials needed for this. Currently, Leiden University (Leiden Law School together with the Center for Professional Learning) offers a LegalTech postgraduate program. The assistant professor could play a role in managing and further developing this program. Another important task would be to a develop similar course for law students. Also, the assistant professor will explore the viability of a minor program in LegalTech and, if this exploration shows positive results, start developing such a program together with other faculties.
Key responsibilities
- Developing and teaching courses in the area of legal technologies
- Supervising thesis projects of master students
- Publishing in professional and (international, peer-reviewed) scientific journals
- Initiating and coordinating the submission of research proposals
- Organizing events in the areas of law and digital technologies
- Preparing papers for and presenting at international conferences
- Actively contribute to administrative tasks of the departments
- Optional: co-supervising PhD candidates