Bangalore: Traditionally, humanities and social sciences were considered to be the apt pre-law options for those willing to study at top law schools. But, a recent study by a U.S. law professor shows that it’s the Physics and Mathematics graduates who are the top scorers in LSAT Exam conducted for admission to top U.S., Canadian & Australian law schools. Engineering graduates were among the top five LSAT scorers and doubtlessly law is emerging as one of the finest higher education option for engineering and science graduates which was once considered to be the monopoly of Economics, Political Science, English & Philosophy graduates. The main reason for law being studied by engineers and scientists is of course the emergence of certain new and special areas of legal practice and industry which require strong scientific acumen. Areas like Intellectual Property Laws (particularly the patent law), Information Technology Law, Healthcare and Biotechnology Law are to name a few.

Information Technology Law

Legal aspects of computing are related to the over-lapping areas of law and computing. They include, mainly Information Technology Law or IT law and Cyber Law or Internet Law. IT Law is a set of legal enactments, currently in existence in several countries, which governs the digital dissemination of both (digitalized) information and software itself. IT Law covers mainly the digital information including information security and electronic commerce aspects. Cyber law or Internet law is a term that encapsulates the legal issues related to use of the Internet. It is less a distinct field of law than intellectual property or contract law, as it is a domain covering many areas of law and regulation. Some leading topics include internet access and usage, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction. Legal informatics is an area within information science which has emerged as a recent phenomenon. It pertains to the application of informatics within the context of the different legal environments. It may encompass several areas like information retrieval (both manual and automated systems such as artificial intelligence and law), law and policy (issues such as privacy, copyright, and security) and information access issues (such as making legal and government information more accessible to the public, both physically and intellectually). Only lawyers with strong background in technology can handle issues relating to IT and Cyber laws.