Brickfields Asia College (BAC) Education Group announced last week that it is partnering with IBM Malaysia to integrate the IBM Innovation Center for Education (ICE) program into its law curriculum.

The IBM ICE program is a series of Undergraduate Programs and Academic courses for the Computing & IT and Business verticals. BAC will embed IBM ICE’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity and Blockchain syllabus into its law courses. The courses, namely AI for Law, Cybersecurity for Law and Blockchain for Law, will be taught virtually from September 2020 and include interactive live coding sessions. Students need to complete 80 hours to graduate with a Professional Plus Certificate.

As with almost every other industry, the legal profession is being disrupted by new technologies that are transforming the role of the lawyer of the future. A McKinsey study in 2016 predicted that 23% of work done by lawyers will eventually be automated. Thus, it is critical that law curriculums are updated with the times to better prepare students for the technological disruptions that will impact the profession.

In addition, the rise of technologies such as AI and Blockchain have also created the need for new and emerging legal services. For example, as the use of AI proliferates, lawyers that are well versed in legal ethics specifically in AI will be in high demand. Law students that are exposed to these new technological areas will not only be better prepared for the future, but also work directly in those new areas or industries.

As a progressive mover in higher education, BAC is taking the initiative to address the skilled talent void that is confronting the legal industry as technology continues to impact the field. It believes that by integrating key elements of technology such as AI, Blockchain and Cyber Security through collaboration with an industry leader like IBM, it will be able to equip law students with cutting-edge skills that will prepare them to not only bridge the gap in expertise, but also to lead in the industry.

Through the IBM ICE program, BAC law students will learn and understand the importance of AI and Machine Learning in the law profession, grasp the basic concepts of Information Security and various related domain as well recognize and analyse the application of cyber security in the law profession.

The growing importance of blockchain in the business world will also have an impact on the future of the legal profession. A basic understanding of blockchain would help the future legal industry combine domain knowledge with technology to construct smart contracts and agreements that are relevant in the digital economy.

The dawn of the Industry 4.0 era has made it an imperative for students to be updated with the latest knowledge and direction of the industry in order to continue in their abilities to be active contributors in the digital economy. The IBM ICE program is underscored with elements like the Subject Matter Experts sessions and the Teach the Teacher workshops to keep everyone industry relevant.

More than producing industry-relevant graduates, the mission of IBM ICE is to equip the next generation of professionals to drive the future of the field by arming them with an education which is aligned with IBM’s vision of a progressive planet. Through partnership with higher education institutions like BAC, IBM hopes to generate graduates who are ready to hit the ground running.