This programme is taught in Portuguese.

4th Edition 2025 | Online Teaching

“New” technologies raise numerous challenges for the law, from the need for multidisciplinary training for legal professionals to the development of legal rules capable of addressing this digital reality. As is well known, technologies are rooted in scientific fields whose terminology differs greatly from that traditionally used in legal discourse. For this reason, the task of regulating a reality that is, in its essence, extra-legal is far from straightforward. How can something that is polymorphic, volatile and, at times, transient be translated into legal norms?

At the same time, the academic and professional hyper-specialisation that characterises our contemporary world often means that legal practitioners, whose training is largely centred on reading and interpreting legal rules, generally lack the technical and academic background required to fully understand the material realities underlying many of the technical concepts associated with emerging technologies.

This situation, further compounded by the general lack of emphasis on multidisciplinary training in both academic and professional contexts, ultimately results in an inability to independently assess cases that require legal qualification.

The offer of postgraduate training in the field of Law and Technology seeks to respond to the pressing need for education in this multidisciplinary area, while also aligning with the strategic priorities of the Porto Faculty of Law, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. It also aims to build upon, at postgraduate level, the teaching of these subjects already offered in the Introduction to Law and Technology course within the Law degree programme.

Objectives

The programme aims to provide a comprehensive overview of key areas at the intersection of law and technology. Given the continuous and far-reaching transformations brought about by technological developments across a wide range of human activities, it is both desirable, and indeed necessary, to reassess and potentially reconfigure traditional legal frameworks.

Within this perspective, the programme seeks to enable participants to identify some of the most significant challenges that technology poses to the legal system and to assess the extent to which the law is capable of providing appropriate responses to them.

Target Audience

This programme is intended for lawyers, judges, solicitors, notaries, legal professionals in general, managers, consultants, and other graduates holding a bachelor’s degree.

Teaching Format

The Postgraduate Programme will be delivered exclusively online, with a total duration of 154 hours. The programme is expected to run from March to September 2025, with classes taking place on Mondays and Tuesdays from 17:00 to 21:00.