Practice points

A lawtech start-up has far exceeded its target to raise funding of £120,000 for software that links lawyers who know each other so they can collaborate remotely and compete with large firms.

Almost half of in-house lawyers say their companies are missing automatic contract renewals, with some resorting to Post-it notes or writing on their hands to remind themselves.

Two-thirds of law firms say the increase in digital learning as a result of the pandemic will continue, but a quarter of firms told a survey their lawyers have “no time” for training during the working day.

A former equity partner at Freeths has won a disability discrimination claim over the way the leading midlands law firm treated him after he was diagnosed with mental health problems.

Online legal services provider Rocket Lawyer has received a £161m funding boost to meet growing demand and scale up its cloud-based case management system.

There is a long way to go to unlock the potential of technology to transform legal services and regulators have an important role in this, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board has said.

Owners of law firms that closed down in the last 20 years have been warned that they face a difficult task in finding insurance to replace the automatic supplementary run-off cover that ends later this year.

Lawyers need to make consumer-facing legal documents more engaging, and regulators and industry should consider measures to ensure they are intelligible, a report has recommended.

An app linking consumers to lawyers who provide free video consultations has been launched this week after three months of testing with 20 law firms – more than 160 firms have now signed up.

A law firm is deploying artificial intelligence software that will become the first point of contact for all new clients, trained to offer initial legal advice and triage cases.