Technology

City giant Linklaters and US firm Orrick have joined Allen & Overy by investing in tech company Nivaura, a cloud-based service for the issue and administration of financial instruments.

The government has awarded grants totalling over £6.4m to 18 legal artificial intelligence and data analytics projects. The projects span the whole range of legal services, from City firms to a CAB.

A ‘robot mediator’ has been used to settle a dispute in the court system, for what is believed to be the first time. The online tool uses artificial intelligence algorithms in place of a human mediator.

A legal think tank and charity has launched an online employment rights advice service to fill a gap created by LASPO cuts in legal aid. It is starting in London with a view to rolling out nationally.

Law firms are under increasing pressure to adopt lawtech, with the rewards “potentially huge”, but the profession has still been slow to embrace systems that would radically change legal services.

More than a quarter of corporations using artificial intelligence software to review contracts are doing so for Brexit-related reasons but the technology will not remove the need for lawyers.

The court modernisation programme has realised £158m in “benefits” to date, more than was anticipated, the Ministry of Justice has revealed. It is also to create an advisory panel.

A barrister entrepreneur has launched a DIY platform aimed at giving small businesses subscription access to straightforward legal advice without recourse to a human lawyer.

Technology in use around the word to help ordinary people exercise their legal rights is often only effective after false starts, while many hackathons do not see follow-through, according to a massive global study.

Online legal documents giant Rocket Lawyer is in talks with UK insurance companies to integrate its digital services into their platforms, Legal Futures can reveal.

A test in the family courts will be the next step in exploring fully video hearings, against a backdrop of widespread concern about the technology among judges, it has emerged.

A project that will look at the ethical and others issues that technology raises for legal services and their regulation has been launched by the Legal Services Board.

Lawtech can provide a “virtuous circle” that simultaneously both improves access to justice and delivers social and gender mobility to the upper reaches of the judiciary, according to a senior judge.

If junior associates are “gradually culled” from law firms as a result of automation, the “entire reproduction of the legal profession could be jeopardised”, a leading academic has warned.

MPs are to probe the access to justice implications of the £1bn court modernisation programme. The justice select committee will consider issues such as the increasing use of digital technology.