From Courtroom to Classroom: Advancing Digital Evidence Competency in Legal Education and Practice

As digital evidence becomes central to legal proceedings, attorneys face challenges in managing, interpreting, and presenting it effectively. While prior research has explored the role of technology in law enforcement and judicial decision-making, limited empirical work addresses attorneys’ direct experiences with digital evidence. This study examines the challenges U.S. lawyers encounter with digital evidence and their views on related legal education and training. Open-ended survey responses from 79 attorneys were thematically analyzed, revealing five key challenge areas: (1) technical difficulties, (2) concerns about data integrity and authenticity, (3) procedural challenges, (4) gaps in legal education, and (5) financial constraints. Participants also expressed the need for digital evidence training in law school, improved continuing legal education (CLE), and standardized courtroom infrastructure. For context, a curriculum review of 23 U.S. law schools revealed that few offer dedicated digital evidence courses. This is particularly critical as the prevalence of digital evidence continues to grow in both criminal and civil cases.