Herbert Smith Freehills to run free digital law course for students in Asia and Australia

Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills is running a free online course for university students in Asia and Australia for the third consecutive year, exploring how emerging technologies are impacting business and the practice of law. Students who attend the course will have the opportunity to win a mentoring session with Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading digital lawyers.

The course consists of three 90-minute evening lectures, presented online by experts from the firm’s Emerging Technology Group and the Digital Law Group. These lawyers specialise in the metaverse, NFTs and artificial intelligence, and routinely advise some of the world’s largest technology brands.

The lectures, which take place in May, include:

• Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – Tuesday 9 May, 6 - 7.30 pm (AEST): An in-depth exploration into the world of NFTs and how law applies to this emerging technology.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Wednesday 17 May, 6 - 7:30 pm (AEST): How cutting-edge technology makes use of AI and what legal issues this raises.

• Metaverse – Wednesday 24 May, 6 - 7:30 pm (AEST): The interaction between the law and the metaverse and the opportunities and challenges that digital worlds bring to our clients.

Students can sign up for one or more of the lectures - each of which also includes an ‘ask me anything’ (AMA) session where students can pose questions to the firm’s experts.

The course is intended for university students of all levels and backgrounds who have an interest in a career in law. It requires no prior knowledge of either technology or law and is open to students in Australia, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea & Thailand.

Herbert Smith Freehills’ Regional Head of Emerging Technology, APAC, Susannah Wilkinson, said: "Emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain are transforming the role of lawyers – from the advice we give to the way we work – and the pace of that change is only accelerating. To be successful in the digital age, all lawyers will need to have a commercial understanding of emerging technology and its inherent risks and opportunities.”

This course is a great way for students to hear directly from experts in the field and gain insight into this important area of law that will shape their careers.

This will be the third time we have run this course in Asia and Australia. It was very well received when we first ran it in 2021, and again in 2022, and we expect that it will be popular again – there is certainly significant interest in these evolving topics within the next generation of legal talent.”

Previous digital law course participant, Morgan Wade, who is now a paralegal in the firm’s Digital Law Group in Perth, shared: “I found the Digital Law Course to be an interesting and useful introduction to emerging technologies and the growing role they play in the legal space. It also provided me valuable insight into the culture of Herbert Smith Freehills and its work.”

Registration for the lectures close on 30 April. Students can register here: https://view.ceros.com/hsf/digital-law-careers-apac-1/p/1