Harvard University is presently offering a free online course targeted for lawyers and law students.

The introductory CS50 for Lawyers is among 67 free online courses that Harvard is making available to people especially during the COVID-19 health crisis which has forced many to stay home.

While discussing the challenges involved in law and technology, CS50 for Lawyers trains participants to come up with technology-based legal arguments and opinions. Topics include cloud computing, algorithms, programming, databases, scalability, networking, privacy and security. Participants will also have hands-on experience with two computer languages – Python and SQL. Both are useful in mining data which will serve lawyers well in their practice especially with today’s technology-driven world.

Harvard University began offering the course on September 12, 2019. It will be available until September 12, 2020. Course duration is 10 weeks. Participants may take the course at their own pace, with a time commitment of three to six hours per week.

The professors are Doug Lloyd, senior preceptor in computer science and David J. Malan, Gordon McKay professor of the practice of computer science at Harvard University.

For more information, log on to https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/cs50-lawyers?delta=0

The rest of the online lectures span a wide range of subject matter. These include health and medicine, literature, business, architecture, bioethics, persuasive writing and public speaking, education, arts, mathematics and the sciences including data science.

Harvard University is also offering an Intermediate course on Contract Law: From Trust to Promise to Contract. The eminent Charles Fried, beneficial professor of law at Harvard Law School and author of books on contract law lectures on the course designed for non-lawyers.

Meanwhile, an introductory course on Intellectual Property is set to open on June 22, 2020 with Allan A. Ryan, director of intellectual property at Harvard Business School Publishing as instructor. Aside the the basics, the course will also touch on international IP law.

Espie Angelica A. de Leon