Law students and junior lawyers who come to Legal Geek events often ask if they need to learn to code. Technology is undoubtedly changing the legal profession and it is encouraging to see lawyers of the future engaging with the question of how the profession is going to change.<\/p>\n
Recent years have seen law schools organising hackathons and launching new courses which embrace technology and law tech. I was interested to see what professionals think about the question. I asked Oliver Yaros<\/strong>, a partner at the international law firm Mayer Brown, whether he thinks that lawyers of the future will need to know how to code:<\/p>\n “I doubt that lawyers of the future will be required to code themselves, in the sense of having to learn and write computer code. Instead, I suspect that firms and startups will create programmes that allow lawyers to assemble smart contracts without needing to know any code. So I don\u2019t think that learning computer programming will be necessary, but obviously it might be helpful to know it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Why can it be helpful, you ask? Coding is a way to differentiate yourself<\/strong> – whether it is at a job interview or when you talk to a tech client. Everybody knows that education doesn\u2019t end at law school and coding can be a useful new skill that can complement one\u2019s legal skills and thinking.<\/p>\n Julia Salasky<\/strong>, a lawyer and a founder of the law tech startup CrowdJustice<\/a>, told us:<\/p>\n “The more lawyers can engage with technology, the better for them and the better for their clients. Whether you can code or not, there are definitely advantages to being able to engage with technology and to speak on a somewhat technical plane \u2013 it opens up enormous opportunities for collaboration with technologists in a world where every discipline, including law, is becoming increasingly integrated into the digital space.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Like law, coding is based on logic and reasoning, and is about finding solutions to practical problems. Srin Madipalli<\/strong>, an ex-Herbert Smith Freehills lawyer and a CEO and Co-founder of Accomable<\/a>,\u00a0explains that law and coding are a natural fit:<\/p>\n “I think everyone should learn to code! It’s a fantastically valuable skill that’s also a lot of fun. It’s something that can be both really intellectually interesting and creative at the same time. I think lawyers make naturally good coders. Fundamentally, code is just a set of objective instructions to a machine. A contract is not that different in that you’re trying to craft a set of instructions to be as objective as possible. Lawyers have to think in a very structured, granular and detailed orientated way; and need to be comfortable breaking a problem down to it’s core. Such abilities are central to coding.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So if you want to develop a new skill and think that you\u2019d enjoy learning to code, here are a few suggestions how to start.<\/p>\n There are thousands of online courses through which you can learn to code. Some of them are of a very good quality and often for free. The most popular examples are Codecademy<\/a>, and courses offered on Coursera<\/a> and edX<\/a>.<\/p>\nOnline courses<\/h1>\n