Once again the core writing assignment in my Law 2050 class requires students to identify a trend of any kind—technological, environmental, social, economic, so long as it is likely to raise policy issues that could require legal responses—and spin out its impacts and legal implications in three styles of writing: (1) a blog post, (2) a client alert letter, and (3) a bar journal article. The idea behind the assignment is twofold. First, young lawyers can and increasingly must jump on emerging issues and brand themselves as among the “go to” legal experts. Second, the style of writing needed to make the brand is generally not taught in law schools.

What I enjoy most about the assignment is working with the students to identify topics, as I learn a lot about what’s on the horizon. This year’s topics:

• Blockchain technology in banking
• The rise of FinTech
• Fitbits in the court room
• Advances in assisted reproductive technology
• Healthcare applications of nanobots in our bodies
• Exoskeletons
• Litigation finance
• Space tourism
• Moral programming of driverless cars
• Smart fabrics
• Personalized genome sequencing
• Changing marriage norms
• Brain mesh technology (aka neural lace)
• Space colonization
• The proposed Equality Act
• AI robots in the workplace
• New state physician assisted suicide laws
• Cybersecurity and drones
• Preimplantation genetics
• Employee wellness programs using wearable tech
• Cyberwars
• Epigenetic manipulation of livestock
• The new DOT driverless car policy
• Global worker enslavement
• Vertical farming
• Smart homes
• Climate geoengineering
• Smart pills
• Mobile IDs
• Legalized pot
• Nanomachines

There’s a lot in that lineup, to say the least! The semester ends with students giving 3-minute “elevator pitches” to convince the class that the topic has legal legs. My hunch is they will be pretty convincing!