Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law

The paper proposes a guided methodology for problem solving in a first-year undergraduate contract law module. Developed from our teaching practice and inspired by theories of computational modelling, our approach helps students to identify and extract legal information from primary and secondary so...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marton Ribary, Antony Starza-Allen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bond University 2023-11-01
Series:Legal Education Review
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.90191
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849686731858640896
author Marton Ribary
Antony Starza-Allen
author_facet Marton Ribary
Antony Starza-Allen
author_sort Marton Ribary
collection DOAJ
description The paper proposes a guided methodology for problem solving in a first-year undergraduate contract law module. Developed from our teaching practice and inspired by theories of computational modelling, our approach helps students to identify and extract legal information from primary and secondary sources, and to organise what they have learned into structured frameworks. The method creates scaffolding for learning and a framework through which legal issues can be identified. These frameworks can be used to locate legal information relevant to the construction of analysis and argument to the point of producing legal advice with confidence. The paper describes our approach in five distinct stages: (1) extracting doctrinal content from legal sources, (2) organising such content into a coherent framework, (3) applying the framework to problem scenarios, (4) constructing , and (5) writing up detailed, authoritative, and persuasive legal advice.. Our methodology embeds essential skills aided by a “semantic web” of concepts from which one could draw inferences, and uses computer-inspired visualisation for constructing arguments. Computational thinking allows students to visualise connections between the initial categorisation of legal information and the constitutive elements of a persuasive legal argument to articulate and demystify the process of producing legal advice.
format Article
id doaj-art-723f144b137b4fa2b9543800cc331df8
institution DOAJ
issn 1033-2839
1839-3713
language English
publishDate 2023-11-01
publisher Bond University
record_format Article
series Legal Education Review
spelling doaj-art-723f144b137b4fa2b9543800cc331df82025-08-20T03:22:35ZengBond UniversityLegal Education Review1033-28391839-37132023-11-0133110.53300/001c.90191Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract LawMarton RibaryAntony Starza-AllenThe paper proposes a guided methodology for problem solving in a first-year undergraduate contract law module. Developed from our teaching practice and inspired by theories of computational modelling, our approach helps students to identify and extract legal information from primary and secondary sources, and to organise what they have learned into structured frameworks. The method creates scaffolding for learning and a framework through which legal issues can be identified. These frameworks can be used to locate legal information relevant to the construction of analysis and argument to the point of producing legal advice with confidence. The paper describes our approach in five distinct stages: (1) extracting doctrinal content from legal sources, (2) organising such content into a coherent framework, (3) applying the framework to problem scenarios, (4) constructing , and (5) writing up detailed, authoritative, and persuasive legal advice.. Our methodology embeds essential skills aided by a “semantic web” of concepts from which one could draw inferences, and uses computer-inspired visualisation for constructing arguments. Computational thinking allows students to visualise connections between the initial categorisation of legal information and the constitutive elements of a persuasive legal argument to articulate and demystify the process of producing legal advice.https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.90191
spellingShingle Marton Ribary
Antony Starza-Allen
Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law
Legal Education Review
title Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law
title_full Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law
title_fullStr Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law
title_full_unstemmed Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law
title_short Computing Legal Analysis: A Guided Approach to Problem Solving in Contract Law
title_sort computing legal analysis a guided approach to problem solving in contract law
url https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.90191
work_keys_str_mv AT martonribary computinglegalanalysisaguidedapproachtoproblemsolvingincontractlaw
AT antonystarzaallen computinglegalanalysisaguidedapproachtoproblemsolvingincontractlaw