Reforming Saudi Legal Education for the Digital Age

Abstract

This article reviews previous industrial revolutions and focuses on the immense technological advancement achieved by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its impact on the quality of legal education in Saudi Arabia. It demonstrates how these technological developments affect the legal job market and the evolved needs it has created. This study finds that legal education in the Kingdom does not adequately engage with the job market requirements and the changing demands for legal services created by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Therefore, this research suggests that legal education institutions in the Kingdom need to take necessary actions to restructure law curricula and specialties so that graduates can meet the legal needs generated by technological advancements. Reforming legal education benefits businesses, governments, individuals, and society at large, as law is the science that regulates behaviors, protects rights, and imposes obligations. This study presents mechanisms through which legal education institutions can adapt to the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Examples of these mechanisms include developing digital literacy among law students and teaching courses such as Technology Law, Technological Legal Innovation, and Legal Entrepreneurship. Training students in future skills is also among the most important strategies to be adopted, especially since these skills will distinguish human legal consultants from machine legal consultants.