IT Law Journal

administrator March 16th, 2004

Editorial
by Dean Mariano Magsalin Jr.

Three years ago, on the occasion of the centenary celebration of the Philippine Supreme Court, Arellano University School of Law was invited to co-sponsor the law and technology lecture. In the response I delivered for the school, I announced to the distinguished members of the Highest Court and their guests that as far back as 1997, the school had already anticipated the need to develop globally-oriented lawyers and professors. This can be gleaned from the school’s vision statement drafted on th same year where we saw ourselves as a globally competitive institution that harnesses world-class, state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies, responsive and attuned to the demands of the times.

In 1999, true to our vision, we opened an Information Technology Center (ITC) to handle all of the school’s computer requirements. On the same year, we set up at least 30 computer stations with Internet access for the exclusive use of law students. Lawphil was developed and introduced on the web in the year 2000 and has become the country’s most visited legal research website. The Arellano Law and Policy Review (ALPR), a journal featuring mainly articles on international law and policy developments, was published starting 2001 to which the law libraries of Yale and Harvard are now subscribers. An Institute of Special Studies (ISS) was opened to engage in research and encourage discussion in the field of international law, particularly international trade law. It holds monthly brown bag lectures mostly on the burning local and international legal issues of the day.

In 2001, the ISS worked with the International Trade Centre, a technical cooperation agency of the UNCTAD and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in authoring a handbook entitled “Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution,” now considered by many Philippine law schools as the most authoritative on the subject. Changes in the curriculum were made in the year 2000. Among them were the introduction of courses like Alternative Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law, International Trade Law, Project Finance, CorporateFinance, Telecommunications Law, Technology and the Law, and Human Rights to address the globalization of both Commercial Law and Public Interest Law.

With the establishment in 2003 of AUSL’s Center for e-Law, it is clear that the school is ready to meet the challenges posed by the advent of the digital age. The formation of an IT Law Society with members composed of technologically proficient law students is a most welcome development that will set the school apart from even the so-called elite law institutions.

I congratulate the movers behind the Center for E-Law and the IT Law Society for the work they have been doing, and in particular for coming out with an ambitious project like the IT Law Journal. May your tribe increase and may you indeed be at the forefront of law and technology concerns in the country and beyond.

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