Hacking the Law: Social Justice Education through Lawtech

This is a chapter within Critical Digital Pedagogy: Broadening Horizons, Bridging Theory and Practice, an interdisciplinary and practical edited collection on the intersection of critical pedagogy and digital technologies in post-secondary and higher education contexts.
The Law Division at London South Bank University has developed an interdisciplinary law and technology module—which is driven by the principles which underpin critical digital pedagogy. This module is based on social justice and student agency, enabling a critical approach to the inequalities of access in the current legal system and the potential of technology to solve them. The principles of legal design, based on design thinking, help students to construct accessible, inclusive and user-centred resources. Learning on the module is iterative, reflective and comes from the process of co-construction. Students in this module not only develop academic skills and knowledge, but also learn how to become responsible citizens and active participants in their communities.