Gazing into the Future through a VDU: Communications, Information Technology, and Law Teaching

The article deals with the interaction of computers, informationtechnology, and legal education. It considers the technical achievementsof communications and information technology (C&IT) in the practiceand teaching of law, then the jurisprudential paradigms which underliethese issues. To the extent to which law is conceived as a form ofinformation, existing assumptions about the theory, practice, andteaching of law are challenged. Where, on the other hand, law is regardedas a collection of rules, reversal to formalism, driven by C&IT, isidentified as a concern for socio-legal scholars. Other concerns addressedby this article include the exclusive economics of the C&IT revolution,the power dynamics of technophobia, and the interaction of computersand gender. The article concludes with suggestions for alternative visonsof the future of C&IT and legal education.