New “Law & Technology Primer” Webinar for Undergraduate Students

On 12 September 2020, NUS Law, with the support of the Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL), launched a new “Law & Technology Primer” webinar for undergraduate students.

Led and conceptualised by Professor David Tan, (Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) and Deputy Director, TRAIL), this half-day seminar aims to introduce students to issues in law & technology that builds on their compulsory modules; get them excited about doing law & tech electives; and give them an introduction to the use of technology in legal practice. The inaugural session was attended by the Year 2 undergraduate cohort, and more sessions have been organised for other cohorts for the rest of the academic year.

TRAIL members shared their expertise in law and technology with the Year 2 cohort. Associate Professor Daniel Seng ’92 (Director, TRAIL) opened the session with a wide-ranging taster on various issues posed by the intersection of law and technology, such as copyright in AI-generated works, autonomous vehicles, and cryptocurrencies.

Shaun Lim ’18 (Research Assistant, TRAIL) continued with an introduction to the use of cross-disciplinary techniques such as data science and statistics in empirical legal research. Sheridan Fellow Mr Benjamin Wong ’15 (Academic Fellow, TRAIL) followed up with a discussion on privacy and data protection, and Prof David Tan concluded with an exploration of social media phenomena such as fake news, cyberbullying, scandalising contempt, and defamation.

In addition, Mr Rajesh Sreenivasan (Head of Technology, Media & Communications at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP; Director at Rajah & Tann Technologies) joined the TRAIL panel to give students a rare preview of the technology tools that legal practitioners were using.

This series of “Law & Technology Primer” webinars is part of the Faculty’s initiatives towards broadening the depth of its law and tech curriculum, to better prepare students for the future of legal practice. By drawing on the knowledge and expertise of its members, TRAIL will continue to play an integral part in supporting these initiatives with a variety of upcoming projects.