The way that law is practiced is changing rapidly. Law firms are using the power of computers to do everything from billing clients to analyzing case law. The Certificate in Legal Analytics & Innovation, offered through the College of Law Legal Analytics & Innovation Initiative, gives students an edge.
Students pursuing a Certificate in Legal Analytics & Innovation have the chance to participate in a number of research, experiential learning and extracurricular activities. The hallmark of the initiative is the Legal Analytics Lab. In collaboration with the J. Mack Robinson College of Business Institute for Insight, students in the lab conduct research projects for real-world clients.
HIGHLIGHTS
- #7 Tech Hub for Job Growth, Business Facilities 2019
- 143,000 Investment Company Disclosures Examined
- 69,000 Federal Cases Analyzed in 2019
Benefits
- Students learn to identify patterns, using big data analytics, including text mining, machine learning, image analysis and other methodologies to produce research. They unlock insights from thousands of pages of text, using computational techniques.
- They work with faculty, law firms and companies to help organizations examine predictive results from volumes of documents and other data.
- Quantify type and frequency of case outcomes to predict future outcomes.
- Students examine analytics tools to leverage emerging technologies in law practices as informed consumers and competent technology partners.
Potential Careers
- Attorney
- Strategic legal insights attorney
- Data privacy and security attorney
- Legal analyst
- Quantitative analyst
- Counsel, software & analytics
- Client data analyst
- Analytics & risk management
Atlanta Advantage
Located in the heart of downtown with access to Atlanta’s vibrant, diverse and growing tech scene.
A FEW STEPS
- Coca-Cola, Georgia Pacific, Southern Company and other corporate headquarters
- State Capitol
- Federal and state courts
- Other local, state and federal government agencies
A FEW MILES
- Major law firms
- Numerous Fortune 500 headquarters
- 17,000 tech companies
- $113.1 billion tech industry
- 1,250 multinational corporations
Certificate Requirements
Students must be in good academic standing, based on the successful completion of the first full year of law study (30 hours), to participate in the certificate program. Students must remain in good standing to continue program participation.
Click here to get suggested electives based on your background and interests
Required Courses and Workshops (5-6 credit hours)
- Students take 5-6 credits of required legal analytics courses:
- LAW 7674 Legal Analytics I (3 credits)
- Legal Analytics Capstone Experience
- LAW 7676E Applied Legal Analytics Lab (3 credits, experiential), or
- Independent Study of a Legal Analytics topic under faculty supervision (2 credits)
- Students must complete one approved non-credit workshop series
- Currently, the only approved workshop series is the GSU Library Research Data Services “Data Certified” certificate. The workshop series provides courses on a variety of data-related topics, such as R, Python, Data Visualization, and similar.
- The RDS workshop courses are free to take, and students receive the Data Certified micro credential upon successful completion. Students must take 5 2-hour workshops in either the summer/fall or the spring semesters to satisfy the requirement.
- LAII workshop series (currently under development)
Capstone Experience
Elective Courses
- LAW 7576: Applied Text Analytics for Law and Business
- LAW 7065: Antitrust Law
- LAW 7135: Cybersecurity Law and Policy
- LAW 7139: e-Discovery (summer)
- LAW 7293: Seminar on Original Meaning: Linguistic Analysis of Legal Texts (writing)
- LAW 7333: Law Practice Technology
- LAW 7353: Information Privacy Law
- LAW 7353: Information Privacy Law (evening)
- LAW 7354: Technology Law and Ethics (writing) (summer)
- LAW 7356: Legal Tech. Competency & Operations
- LAW 7366: Legal Innovation
- LAW 7629: Blockchain, Smart Contracts & the Law (writing)
- RCB MSDA courses (upon approval depending on background)
- MSA 8010 – Data Programming for Analytics
- MSA 8040 – Data Management for Analytics
- Additional courses (upon approval)
- We will work with students to treat additional seminars or upper-level classes as Certificate electives if there is significant overlap
Legal analytics is a new and growing field and this list is subject to change.
Writing Requirement
- Students must complete a substantial writing project on a Legal Analytics & Innovation topic. The LAII writing requirement will satisfy the College of Law’s upper-level writing requirement.
- The independent study capstone experience may, with permission of the instructor, satisfy the writing requirement.
- Elective courses noted above as “(writing)” may also satisfy the requirement.
- With prior permission of an advisor, other courses may also satisfy the requirement such as seminars in other fields of study where there is a sufficient connection with legal analytics or technology.
Extracurricular Activity
- Students are encouraged to participate in legal analytics extracurricular activities such as:
- Workshops and boot camp training sessions hosted at the College of Law or Robinson College of Business,
- Participate in additional client-focused data projects (“sprints”),
- Work with affiliated faculty as a GRA,
- Pursue internship placements as they become available
Grades and Honors
- A minimum GPA of 3.0 is required across all courses taken in satisfaction of the certificate requirements, including the writing requirement.
- Honors will be awarded for achievement of a GPA of 3.6 or higher in all Legal Analytics & Innovation courses taken for the certificate.
Verification for Graduation
To graduate with a certificate, students must submit a Verification for Certificate in Legal Analytics for review no later than the end of the drop/add period of a student’s last semester prior to graduation. The form must be signed by the student’s academic advisor.
– Laura Steinbach (J.D. ’21)
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