Law and Technology - a cross-continental perspective (in Zurich) January 2025

Registration for this course: by e-mail to Lst.thouvenin@ius.uzh.ch (stating your full name, e-mail address, matriculation no.) This course is limited to 30 UZH students.

Note: Please kindly note that the course "Law and Technology - a cross-continental perspective" will formally be part of the Spring Semester 2025.

This course is jointly organized with the University of New South Wales (Australia) (UNSW) and will be taught primarily by Prof. Lyria Bennett Moses (UNSW) and Prof. Florent Thouvenin (UZH). 

This course will explore the interaction between law and modern technology. It will introduce students to the potentially problematic relationship between legal rules and technological change, and then begin to explore real substantive problems at the interface between them. This will require some understanding of particular legal doctrines and particular technologies, which the course itself will provide. It is the aim of the course to teach, encourage and nurture creative legal (and technological) thinking when contemplating questions such as the possible regulation and/or promotion (for example, through patents) of technology and technological change.

This course also provides students with knowledge of the legal frameworks and theoretical approaches regarding regulation of technologies in a global and  transnational context. The course will draw on Australian, US, and European perspectives (among others) in order to ensure that students understand the topics covered on a broader, global canvas.

• Presentation of research essay outline: proposing a topic and preparing a research outline for the essay, briefly presenting the outline during class (10%)
• Class participation: active contribution to class discussions and engagement throughout the course (20%)
• Research essay on a selected topic in the field of private law and technology (70%)
  • Deadline submission: tbc (by mail: Lst.thouvenin@ius.uzh.ch)
  • Submitted with a signed declaration of originality
  • Maximum 50,000 characters (not including the front page, indices,
    footnotes, declaration of originality)
  • Line spacing: 1.5 lines
  • Alignment: justified
  • Page margin right: 4cm
  • Format: A4
  • Language: English
  • Generally follow the guidelines (PDF, 215 KB) for master theses for work submitted to Lehrstuhl Thouvenin