Technology

The average annual growth rate for investment in UK lawtech companies over the past three years has hit 101%, a much bigger number than that seen in sectors such as finance or health.

A house in Kent is the first being sold using a blockchain network that connects conveyancers with estate agents and mortgage lenders.

The extent to which legal work can be reduced purely to administration and process has been overstated and in fact “lawyers are needed for all legal jobs”, Professor Richard Susskind has acknowledged.

Lawyers have been reluctant to engage with technology partly because law firm partners haven’t given junior staff enough time to learn how it can help them, according to a government-backed report.

The Master of the Rolls has hailed the launch of a universal structured data format for the creation of digital contracts as a “great step forward”.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has launched a pilot scheme that allows lawyers to manage and progress the initial stages of certain civil damages claims online.

A law firm specialising in data breach litigation has criticised Gateley for not keeping client data safe in the wake of the cyber-attack it suffered earlier this week.

Client data has been stolen from Gateley in a cyber-attack, the listed law firm has revealed. The firm said it was “confident that the incident has been confined to a very small part of its data store”.

A conveyancing platform which aims to provide a “central source of truth” for buyers, sellers, estate agents and lawyers is being tested by law firms in Kent.

A contract drafting and review business founded by former Freshfields associates is one of 30 companies to receive funding from the Google for Startups inaugural European Black Founders Fund.