Program on Law & Innovation

Section Contents

The law, the legal services industry, and legal education are all undergoing unprecedented transformations due to rapid social, economic, and technological changes. Vanderbilt’s Program on Law & Innovation (PoLI) trains the next generation of lawyers to succeed in a rapidly evolving professional environment by anticipating and taking advantage of the opportunities created by changes in law and legal practice.

PoLI curriculum and activities focus on four related themes, exposing Vanderbilt Law students to changes in the legal industry that will have a profound influence on the way they practice law.

Program Themes

The Legal Industry

Legal Service providers are restructuring the ways their lawyers practice. Traditional law firms now compete for business with new types of providers, such as legal project management firms and document review shops. New roles like legal risk consultants and legal knowledge managers are changing the availability of services.

Legal Technologies

Computers are increasingly performing legal work, from reviewing documents for relevant information to predicting liabilities and litigation outcomes using algorithms and AI. These technologies allow lawyers to deliver more efficient and reliable services but also affect demand and the skillsets needed to deliver legal services.

Legal Innovation

Fueled by rapid social, economic, and technological evolution, the demand for change in law is growing. Existing regulations don’t address issues raised by new technologies, and financial products with uncertain risks demand new strategies for public oversight. Enterprising lawyers can develop expertise in an emerging or evolving area of law. 

Access to Legal Services

Most people and businesses could not afford top-quality legal services in the past. As lawyers become more efficient and legal technologies more widely available, the availability of affordable legal services will open new markets for entrepreneurial lawyers and legal enterprises.

In Law Practice 2050, you learn the skills to identify an evolving area of law and become an expert in it. I choose to focus on artificial intelligence and quantum computing. It's really exciting to be working in an area of law that is innovative and constantly evolving."

Ryan McKenney '19
Director of Government Relations and General Counsel of Compliance, Quantinuum

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