Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (Oct 2024)
HiveLaw: Propelling the Nelson Mandela University Law Clinic into the Future: A Consideration of Technology's Integral Role in Modern Legal Service Delivery and the Consequences for Legal Education
Abstract
The effective training of law students, which demystifies technology, and the creation of cost effective, fit for purpose technology solutions are crucial to democratising legal technology and levelling the playing fields between "Big Law" and the legal services available to the bulk of South African citizens. A public/private partnership between the Nelson Mandela Faculty of Law, the university's Information and Communication Technology department and a consortium of legal practitioners (including Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and various industry players) has piloted HiveLaw, a SharePoint-based practice management solution custom designed to fit university law clinics' dual purpose of legal service delivery and practical legal education. This pilot serves as a case study firstly to investigate how legal technology can contribute to transformative teaching and learning and transformative legal practice at university law clinics, as it exposes staff and students to the benefits of digital and online activities. Secondly, the pilot illustrates how proficiency in the use of technology such as HiveLaw aids the staff and students to adapt to digital processes while improving access to justice for indigent communities. In this way staff and students make a difference in the working world by implementing their knowledge in legal practice, which is widely known for slowly adapting to digital processes, while being exposed to experiential learning and getting in touch with the demands of modern legal practice.
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