Shared space: regulation, technology and legal education in a global context

Abstract

The LETR Report on legal services education and training (LSET), published in June 2013, is the most recent of a series of reports dealing with legal education in England and Wales. Earlier reports do not deal directly with technology theory and use in legal education, though the use of technology has increased exponentially in recent decades in all areas of social activity, not just in legal education and the administration of justice. LETR does deal with technology use and theory, however, and its position is comparable with at least two reports from other jurisdictions internationally, with the findings of two large-scale projects in legal education and has parallels with the regulation of the quality of legal education in another jurisdiction in these isles. In this article I set out that position and contrast it with regulatory positions and statements on technology and legal education in England and Wales going back to the 1971 Ormrod Report. Based on a review not just of technological implementations but of the theoretical educational and regulatory literatures, I shall argue that the concept of multi-modal regulation and ‘shared space’ outlined in the Report is a valuable tool for the development of technology in education and for the direction of educational theory, but particularly for the development of regulation of technology in legal education at every level.