Suffolk University Law School Sargent Hall, in Boston, MA. Suffolk University Law School Sargent Hall, in Boston, MA.

Suffolk University Law School this week announced the launch of an online certificate program in “Legal Innovation & Technology” designed to help legal professionals think more broadly about potential applications of technology in law practice.

Suffolk Law Dean Andrew Perlman explained that the program aims to bring the kind of issue spotting that law students traditionally learn to identify in property law or contracts to technology. If students can understand what processes and procedures lend themselves to automation or expert systems, they may be better able to establish them in legal practices.

“When they see an issue in practice they can say, 'you know what, there is a better, faster and cheaper way to do this.' What I'm hoping is that people will recognize there isn't just an off-the-shelf solution to make a law firm or legal service organization more efficient. There needs to be a mindset change,” Perlman said.

The program will begin offering two classes each academic term starting in June 2018, including courses such as “Legal Operations,” “21st Century Legal Profession,” “Process Improvement & Legal Project Management,” “Design Thinking for Legal Professionals,” “Legal Technology Toolkit,” and “The Business of Delivering Legal Services.” Each course in the certificate program takes around 10 weeks to complete, and will contain roughly an hour of content each week. Students can access course material online either along a fixed course schedule or on their own time.

Perlman noted that these courses are a combination of popular course offerings among Suffolk Law students and a survey of industry professionals. The program, he explained, is geared toward “advancing a new mindset on how to deliver better legal services, and help legal professionals of all kinds do what they do better, faster and cheaper.”

Perlman explained that using technology to teach curriculum on the use of technology was sort of a no-brainer. Additionally, the program's structure opens up content to legal professionals who may not have time to sit through a standard course. “We want to give as much flexibility as possible to the students,” Perlman said.

Perlman noted that Suffolk's new certificate program is aimed at a broad set of “legal professionals,” such as those from corporate legal departments, legal operations departments, innovation officers, and paralegals.

Although Suffolk Law is running the program, course instructors for the Legal Innovation & Technology program will come mostly from outside the university. Law21 principal Jordan Furlong, assistant general counsel of Microsoft Lucy Bassli, and Harvard Law School Access to Justice Lab associate director of field research Erika Rickard are each slated to prepare content for courses in the program.