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Criminal Justice & Law

Technology in the Law Office

Advances in technology are revolutionizing today’s legal landscape at a faster pace than ever before. Along with it, the role of the legal professional continues to evolve and keep up. The automation of various legal processes has forced lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries and other legal professionals to become proficient with constantly growing array of word processing, database, telecommunications, spreadsheet, presentation and legal research software. For better or worse, new technology impacts every aspect of the legal field, making the law office more efficient, but also more complex from traditional law firms and corporate practices to courtroom operations and document management. From electronic research to eDiscovery and electronic database discovery (EDD), official eFiling and case management software, students will explore all of the different technological advances that have become standard in the legal industry.

This course provides an introduction to computer hardware and software fundamentals necessary to the successful operation of a law office, including an overview of traditional legal software, specialty law office and case management software, and litigation support software. Students will also explore various methods for learning and keeping current with software updates and changes.

Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:

  • Produce a checklist of technology needs for a law office
  • Prepare a plan for setting up technology systems for a new law firm
  • Research legal issues using the Internet
  • Describe security and ethical issues related to the use of the Internet in a law office
  • Use word processing software to prepare documents for a law office
  • Use electronic spreadsheet software to prepare documents for a law office
  • Use a database to store, sort and present client and/or case information
  • Create a basic office management system using law office management software
  • Create a case notebook using case management software
  • Prepare a response to a discovery request
  • Create an electronic presentation to use at trial
  • Investigate the advantages and disadvantages of a paperless office
  • Analyze the impact of federal and court rules on electronic discovery
  • Review court rules on the use of technology

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