Integrating law, technology, and design : teaching data protection and privacy law in a digital age

Key Points The data protection lawyer of the future will be a key intermediary of innovation—or ‘transaction engineer’—who facilitates and coordinates new forms of business and other social relationships in rapidly evolving multi-disciplinary settings. The effective performance of this function requires legal professionals to develop a different mindset, along with new skills and capacities, specifically a better understanding of the underlying technologies and the value and techniques of legal design, as well as a knowledge of relevant data protection law. Transferable principles for teaching data protection law and privacy law in a digital age are identified. The article proposes a task-oriented, gamified, and sandbox approach to data protection education that delivers a more relevant student experience that cultivates meaningful capacities and skills that are more closely aligned with the needs and values of a digital age.