Comparing Online Legal Education World-Wide: An Overview Before and after the Pandemic

Abstract

This draft General Report for the October 2022 IACL conference (and for introductory and concluding chapters in a related Intersentia series co-edited book) compares the global development of online legal education before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in universities but also through professional bodies. As significant background factors, it posits the nature of each jurisdiction’s legal system and profession, resourcing of universities, ICT infrastructure, and evolving pandemic impact. It then compares highlights and lowlights from 13 diverse jurisdictions: eight in the Asia-Pacific region and four elsewhere. The General Report concludes with a discussion of common trends and issues, as well as some intriguing divergences and contingencies, and an overall prognosis given the pros and cons revealed by the pandemic-induced shift towards more online legal education.

Keywords: legal education, comparative law, Asian law, Commonwealth law, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore

JEL Classification: K1