LawtechUK: Conference held at Mansion House in London
The government has agreed to continue funding LawtechUK for the next year, committing £1.5m to support greater use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology in legal services.
The Ministry of Justice-funded initiative – delivered since 2023 by CodeBase and Legal Geek – has received £6m since its launch in 2019.
A report it published this week said UK lawtech companies raised £140m last year, 10% up on the year before, as they attracted more investors in the UK and internationally.
Speaking at a LawtechUK conference in London on Wednesday, justice minister Sarah Sackman said: “Lawtech is making legal services faster, more efficient, and more accessible. It is transforming how we work, and opening justice up to more people, at lower costs.
“This isn’t just a win for law firms, or even the prestige of our legal services sector. Lawtech is also a powerhouse for the UK economy.”
Jon Hope, senior vice-president at CodeBase, said: “Building on the success of the past two years, we are excited to extend LawtechUK into its third year.
“Together with our delivery partners, Legal Geek, we remain committed to driving innovation and transformation in the legal industry.”
In his keynote speech, Master of the Rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos, who has been a member of the LawtechUK Panel – which advises the organisation – since it began in 2018, said that AI would transform the legal sector.
“I remember, in early Lawtech Panel speeches, spouting the prediction that, within five years, there would be more than three trillion smart contracts every year. We need to review these predictions frequently as we begin to see how tech is really going to change our economic realities.
“It is now clear, I think, that generative AI and digital trading are likely to affect the legal sector fundamentally. That gives LawtechUK a special importance.
“It is one thing for the UK to sport 350 lawtech companies, but it is another to produce the legal and regulatory environment that fosters innovation in the delivery of legal services and in dispute resolution. LawtechUK operates in this latter space…
“In many other countries in Europe and beyond, we can observe what may come to be regarded as excessive caution about embracing tech and AI into the law. LawtechUK can be an example to the world in unlocking the economic advantages of digital trading, digital legal services and online dispute resolution.”
Sir Geoffrey chairs the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce – part of LawtechUK – which to date has published a legal statement on the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English private law, one on the issuance and transfer of digital securities under English private law, and a third on digital assets and English insolvency law.
Also, in 2021, the taskforce published digital dispute resolution rules “that have been widely adopted”, he said.
It now has three new projects, he went on. The first is to produce non-binding guidance on the legal concept of ‘control’ in relation to third category digital assets; the second another legal statement, this time on liability for harms caused by AI; and the third to form an International Jurisdiction Taskforce.
“The idea would be to bring together some of best legal thinkers in the digital space from the main private law jurisdictions around the world, with a view to understanding how much common ground exists between their approaches to digital assets and digital trading.
“It seems to me, at least, that private law is key to the mainstream and wholesale adoption of digital assets and digital trading.
“If different jurisdictions have different positions on the status of cryptoassets or as to ability to securitise digital assets or their treatment on insolvency, complex and unpredictable private international law issues will arise.
“More importantly, the likelihood of market uncertainty will be exacerbated.”
The aim was “to start the process of seeing whether some level of private law alignment can be achieved between the laws applicable in the most commonly chosen commercial jurisdictions”.
He suggested that New York, English, Singapore, Dubai, French and German law “might be a suitable starting point”.
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