A conceptual framework for the law and technology knowledge domain

Fabian George Horton

doi:10.25918/thesis.123

Law and technology are two distinct fields that contain specific and specialised knowledge. The continued increase in interest and participation in law and technology-related activities has given rise, in both academia and praxis, to what could be described as a combined law and technology (law/tech) knowledge domain. However, much of the development in the field has been prompted by an awareness of specific emerging problems or potential opportunities. What has been lacking is an overarching perspective to broadly identify and understand the underlying connections between the various manifestations of the combined domain. Attempts to express the components of the law/tech knowledge domain have, at best, offered only a partial account. In terms of specific research outputs, the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of a unified law/tech knowledge domain remain unclear and relatively unexplored. This has been particularly evident in various implementations of law/tech curriculums and other products with a law/tech education focus. Lawyers and technologists alike have been left without a mechanism for expressing how their knowledge links with, or diverges from, that of others who also participate in the field. This thesis seeks to take the wide and disparate concepts of the law and technology domains and bind them together. The goal is to give expression to a unified field—presented in the form of a ‘conceptual framework’. Building initially on Yosef Jabareen’s approach to building a conceptual framework, this thesis employed a sequential, mixed methods research design, set within a pragmatic worldview. Firstly, a review of the extant literature was undertaken, enabling the identification of numerous distinct categories of law/tech engagement and research. Secondly, to provide conceptual breadth and philosophical depth to the investigation, applicable concepts from the philosophy of technology were reviewed. Finally, using a pragmatic process of synthesis and validation methods, a law/tech conceptual framework was developed and refined. The result is a proposed conceptual framework for the law/tech knowledge domain which comprises three law/tech subdomains, with each subdomain seen as having two ‘aspects’. The framework is broadly encompassing, yet also nuanced, so as to provide a comprehensive series of ‘lenses’ through which the law/tech knowledge domain can be perceived and understood. It is intended that the framework be used as a practical tool to facilitate the collaboration of legal professionals, technologists and academics, as they grapple with the prospects and problems arising from the ever-changing and fundamentally important field of law and technology.

A conceptual framework for the law and technology knowledge domain

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A conceptual framework for the law and technology knowledge domain

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