KDEC 9170 - Advising global tech disruptors – a practical legal approach of platforms, artificial intelligence

Technological innovations, such as platforms, data driven companies, software and artificial intelligence, are at the heart of strong economic, political and legal disruptions. Tech companies, whatever their size, are at the forefront of this change. Being able to assess their legal environment is crucial because they often operate beyond what the existing rules regulate. At the same time, as lawyers, it is essential to apply legal reasoning to new business models or technologies to be able to advise them, analyze them and participate to the emergence of new regulation principles.

This course aims at giving students the tools and reasonings necessary to understand and legally analyze disruptive technological actors. As lawyers dedicated to advising tech businesses and innovative companies, we intend to give students a concrete understanding of the key legal tools, reasonings and methods necessary to advise game-changing businesses and participate to the construction of new regulatory frameworks.

During the course, we will (i) analyze the business models of technological companies and qualify them under European and French private law principles and (ii) put this analysis into practice during mock trials or practice cases derived from our professional practice.

Lecture + discussion + mock trials and practice cases

• Participation (25%): students are asked to read the assignments prior to the class and to participate in class discussions
• Written work (25%): students are asked to draft a one pager synthesis on a reading prior to the class discussion.
• Mock trial or practice case (50%): the class will be divided into small groups, each group being assigned the preparation of one mock trial or practice case for a specific session (each mock trial will include the drafting of one argumentation paper and oral pleadings)