Background
In South African legal education, students traditionally learn distinct disciplines categorised in the Roman tradition, an approach that often overlooks how legal questions interconnect within the country's constitutional democracy. To bridge theory and practice, the University of Johannesburg's Faculty of Law set out to build a simulation that places students inside realistic, interdisciplinary legal scenarios that mirror actual cases.
The deployment
The VR Courtroom Game launched on 19 July 2024 as a partnership between UJ's Faculty of Law and the Johannesburg Business School (JBS) Innovation Lab. Reported as a first for South Africa and the African continent, the simulation drops law students into authentic case scenarios that span several areas of law, requiring them to reason across disciplines in real time. The game-based framework combines virtual reality with artificial intelligence to mirror the kinds of decisions practitioners face.
Team and development
The project was directed by Professor Michele van Eck, Associate Professor and Head of Private Law at the Faculty of Law. Professor Abejide Ade-Ibijola served as the lead VR game developer. Faculty of Law contributors who designed the storyline, content and case scenarios included Professor Puseletso Letete, Natasha Naidoo, Elton Hart, Felicia Zuba, Louis Koen, Dr Werner Nel, Dr Yvette Joubert and Dr Whitney Rosenberg. Undergraduate students at the JBS Innovation Lab supported development. The Faculty team also tested and validated the game to ensure scenario authenticity and accessibility for students at different levels of legal knowledge.
How students use it
Students engage with multi-disciplinary legal scenarios through the immersive VR environment, working through cases that reflect realistic practice rather than treating areas of law in isolation. The platform aims to enhance analytical skills, communication and ethical judgement, areas the Faculty notes are difficult to assess in traditional classroom settings.
Wider context
The VR Courtroom Game forms part of UJ's broader push to embed AI and immersive technologies into legal training, sitting alongside the iKamva Initiative Metaverse, where students consult with AI-driven virtual clients on cases including gender-based violence and Road Accident Fund claims. By 2026 the Faculty had also launched an AI and the Law Institute, signalling a deliberate shift from theory-only instruction towards applied, technology-enabled learning. The VR Courtroom was presented at the May 2025 BABSEACLE conference in Bangkok as a pedagogical tool for clinical legal education and access to justice.
