My name is David Malan.

DOUG LLOYD: And my name is Doug Lloyd.

DAVID MALAN: And this is CS50 for Lawyers, here in the Caspersen Treasure

Room at Harvard Law School.

Whereas CS50 itself, an introduction to the intellectual enterprises

of computer science and the arts of programming,

takes a bottom-up approach emphasizing mastery of low-level concepts

and implementation details thereof, this course, CS50 for Lawyers,

takes a top-down approach emphasizing mastery of high-level concepts

and design decisions related thereto.

DOUG LLOYD: Ultimately, this course is designed

to equip students with a deeper understanding of the legal implications

of technological decisions made by clients, and perhaps

in their own businesses as well.

Indeed, some of the issues we discuss in this course

were important considerations for me when I operated my own solo practice.

Through a mix of technical instruction and case studies,

this course empowers legal professionals to be informed contributors

to technology-driven conversations.

In addition, it prepares you to formulate

technology-informed legal arguments and opinions.

DAVID MALAN: Along the way, this course equips you

with hands-on experience with Python and SQL

as well, languages via which you can mine data for answers yourself.

DOUG LLOYD: Among the other topics ahead--

computational thinking and programming languages more generally,

algorithms, data structures, cryptography and cybersecurity,

internet technologies and cloud computing,

web development, database design, and ultimately,

challenges that lie at the intersection of law and technology--

those issues that may be confronted by technology-focused attorneys

in the months and years ahead.

DAVID MALAN: All that, then, and more.

This is CS50 for Lawyers.