Evento - SubTech 2010

Eleventh International Conference on Substantive Technology in Legal Education and Practice


University of Zaragoza - 1st to 3rd July 2010


What is SubTech?
SubTech is a European/US conference which has been meeting bi-annually for the past 22 years since 1990, alternating between a US and a European host. The topic of the conference is the use of technology in legal education - how to produce better graduates who have a greater understanding of technology as well as how to use technology in the law school to enable better teaching. This includes training students for a technological law practice or court and the development, use, and study of advanced legal technologies in the legal education context.
SubTech has been an invited conference since it's inception - most of the costs of attending (except for hotel and travel) are met by the conference sponsors. For the 2010 event we intend to similarly cover these costs. Attendees are active participants, rather than observers, so the conference has the feel of an informal workshop more than that of the typical academic conference. In 2010, the conference is being hosted by Fernando Galindo and Lefis in Zaragoza. The SubTech 2008 programme can be found here

Why attend SubTech?

SubTech is an opportunity to meet with other legal educationalists and to discuss and test out ideas, and to see recent usages of technology in the law school. The social programme has always been an important element of the conference, with an opportunty to make links with other Universities and researchers into technology and legal education.
SubTech has always been an attractive conference to attend and - since it has not been accessible without invite - it has meant that those who do attend have been active in the field. This year, we want to attract younger people. Those who attend are usually invited back for the following years, so it is important to take this opportunity to become a member of the SubTech invitee list. To ensure that we get only attendees who are active in the field, everyone will prepare a short paper (to be included in the conference pack) outlining the progressive issues they have been tackling in legal technology over the past 3 or 4 years. This is to be emailed to Fernando Galindo by 1st June.
The major themes are: State of the Legal Technology Curriculum, Access to Justice, Court and Administrative Technology, New Developments in Legal Education.

Where is SubTech being held?

SubTech is being held at the University of Zaragoza which is within walking distance of the city centre (around 20 mins to the Pilar Basilica). Working facilities are good.

What is the SubTech philosophy?

The conference series is dedicated to substantive applications of information technology in law, as they are used or studied in legal education.
  • By "substantive" we mean applications that deal with the distinctively legal substance of what lawyers, judges, and law teachers do.
  • By "legal education" we mean all contexts in which law is studied and taught (not just traditional law schools).
The historical application categories include:

  • Computer-aided instruction, broadly conceived
  • Artificial intelligence & knowledge management
  • Practice technologies like document automation
  • Legal research, databases
These applications and contexts define such a vast landscape of subjects that we avoid getting into doctrine, policy, and other collateral matters. (For instance, "law of technology" and topics like privacy and intellectual property.) Our focus, in other words, is on where the technology of law intersects with legal education. In atruly international gathering that nurtures inter-speciality exchange. It summarizes the SubTech philosophy as: the development, use, and study of advanced legal technologies in the legal education context
Organizational Principles:
  • Lots of open spaces for informal interaction; don't overload schedule;
  • A coherent topical framework with elements of spontaneity & serendipity;
  • Emphasizing activities that can best be done in person; use Web and e-mail before and after for generic information exchange, finding common interests;
  • Maintain balances: structure/chaos; practical/way-out; spontaneous/produced;
  • Short talks, small groups, strong moderators, participant profiling, topical cohesion;
  • High interaction and real-time collaboration; mixing people in different groupings;
  • Being sure everyone gets a chance to tell his/her story, not feel anonymous;
  • Geographical, substantive, and gender balance;
  • Established figures as well as significant newcomers;
  • Active participation - this is a working conference.

Current List of Attendees Includes

Kevin Ashley, University of PIttsburgh
Subhajit Basu, University of Leeds
Bill Boyd, James E. Rogers College of Law
Joe Cannatacci, University of Central Lancashire
Pompeu Casanovas, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona
Núria Casellas, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona
Paulo Cavaco, Instituto Politécnico de Beja
Junwei Chen, Northwest University Political Science And Law, Xi’an (China) 
Jose Renato Gaziero Cella, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (Curitiba, Brasil)
Larry Farmer Brigham Young University
Fernando Galindo, University of Zaragoza
Stanley Greenstein, Stockholm University Oliver Goodenough, Vermont Law School
Andres Guadamuz, Edinburgh University
Richard Jones,Livepool John Moores University
Hugo Lança, Instituto Politécnico de Beja
Pilar Lasala, University of Zaragoza
Marc Lauritsen, Capstone Practice Systems
Philip Leith, Queens University of Belfast
Cesare Maioli, University of Bologna
Manuel Masseno, Instituto Politécnico de Beja
Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, National University of Singapore
Orides Mezzaroba, Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brasil)
Shadi Murtada, United Arabs Emirate University, Al-Ain (United Arab Emirates)
Roberta Nannucci, Istituto per la Documentazione Giuridica del CNR 
Abdul Paliwala, University of Warwick
Jeanne Pia Mifsud Bonnici, University of Groningen
Radim Polák, Masaryk University
Daniel Poulin, University of Montreal
Henry Prakken, Utrecht University and University of Gröningen
Cao Quanlai, National Judges College of China, Beijing
Aires Rover, Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brasil) Brock Rutter, State of Vermont / Berkman Center
Ahti Saarenpaa, University of Lapland
Elena Sánchez Jordán, University of Canary Islands
Erich Schweighofer, University of Vienna
Olav Torvund, University of Oslo
Dana Van der Merwe, University of South Africa
Wang Yun, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing