Practice Management

The online court should be trialled alongside physical courts for five to 10 years because so many people will be excluded – some one in five according to government figures – from accessing digital-only services, according to a leading researcher.

Artificial intelligence could have a knock-on impact on legal services for poorer people, such as weakening pro bono assistance by cutting the number of commercial lawyers, according to a report by leading researcher into online law, Professor Roger Smith.

Lawyers who attract a sufficient number of positive client reviews are able to charge higher fees, the head of an online lawyer-matching service has claimed. He also said that having a single “odd-ball review” among a dozen good reviews could increase a lawyer’s standing.

The Court of Appeal has emphatically cleared a solicitor of fraud, expressing “some disquiet” at the trial judge’s findings to the contrary in an oil rig drilling case involving a $129m standby letter of credit. “Different legal minds may obviously take different views” on the legal question at the heart of the case, it said.

A typical law firm in the future will accommodate a new generation of disruptive technologies, such as virtual assistants, machine learning and automation, but legal services must not lose their human touch, a major Law Society report on technological innovation has urged.

An artificial intelligence (AI) lawtech start-up which claims its product can predict how courts will rule in tax cases with 90% accuracy, in on course to expand into this country. The Canadian company hopes to exploit the similarity of the tax systems in Canada and England and Wales.

A web-based service which uses artificial intelligence (AI) rather than lawyers to give business clients crucial information about their contracts – and already works with Deliveroo – has secured a second round of funding from high-profile investors.

City solicitors, regional solicitors, consumers and the Law Society have all pushed back at the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans to reduce the two years that students have to spend in workplace training before qualifying.

Leading London law firm and alternative business structure Mishcon de Reya yesterday announced the creation of an incubator for lawtech start-ups, with the founder saying it was less about investment than helping to change the firm’s culture to embrace technology.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has had to increase its provision for general insurance claims by around £45m for the next financial year, because of the failures of Enterprise Insurance and Gable Insurance AG, it has emerged, while it is still paying out for other insurers that used to back solicitors.

Parliament could harness the power of technology to provide a system to lawmakers that gives them the ability to test speculatively the knock-on effects of legislative changes while they are considering bills, according to IT guru Professor Richard Susskind.

A criminal law firm has hit back at a Sunday tabloid newspaper story that quoted a senior policewoman who condemned as “idiotic” its Facebook posts identifying unmarked police cars. The firm told readers that while other firms “will promise you the earth… we’re more practical”.

Online wills start-up Farewill hopes to motivate people to make wills by attracting them with simplicity and branded design rather than extensive add-ons. The founders of property website Zoopla and short-term loans business Wonga, together with the tech investment arm of advertising agency M&C Saatchi Plc, have backed the venture.

National direct access chambers Clerksroom is to offer clients pay-as-you-go video conferences with barristers by the end of this year, it has emerged. Clerksroom has also won a place in the final of Disruptive Tech TV’s sales pitch competition – recruiting one of the judges as a client in the process.

The case of three men charged with insider trading based on information they hacked from prominent US law firms “should serve as a wake-up call for law firms around the world”, a New York prosecutor has said.