Albina Al. Petrogradskaya

The relevance of this article stems from the profound transformational processes occurring in the higher education system under the influence of digitalization. The legal field, traditionally characterized by conservatism, is currently faced with the need to adapt to new technological realities, which gives rise to a complex set of problems requiring scientific understanding and practical solutions. The aim of this article is to briefly analyze current trends, problems, and prospects for the digitalization of legal education in the Russian Federation, as well as to develop proposals for improving educational standards and curricula for the training of lawyers. The study utilized both general scientific methods (analysis of scientific literature, systems analysis, and generalization) and specific legal methods (comparative legal analysis and the predictive method). The theoretical basis was formed by the works of domestic and foreign legal scholars devoted to issues of digital transformation of education, as well as regulatory legal acts and strategic documents of the Russian Federation in the field of digitalization and education. As a result of the conducted research, a number of problematic aspects in the field of digitalization of the educational process in Russian universities were identified: the insufficient material and technical resources of universities, a shortage of teaching staff with the necessary digital competences, the inadequacy of current educational standards for the requirements of the digital age, and the absence of mandatory courses in the curricula aimed at developing digital skills in preservice lawyers. The author substantiates the need to amend the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" to require digital competences among teaching staff, as well as to amend the Federal State Educational Standard for Jurisprudence to include digital competences in the list of mandatory professional competences. The theoretical significance of this work lies in its systematization of scientific approaches to the problem of digitalization of legal education and the identification of the main contradictions and development trends in this field. The practical significance is determined by the possibility of using the recommendations proposed by the author in the development and updating of educational standards, curricula and programs for training lawyers, as well as in the activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and higher education organizations.