Technology

Riverview Law has announced a collaboration with US technology pioneer Legal OnRamp to offer a service that can cope with massive regulatory burdens imposed on financial institutions to avoid a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis.

Online giant LegalZoom – said to be the best-known legal brand in America – has soft-launched its UK service with the aim of giving consumers and small businesses “a smarter way to engage with a lawyer”, Legal Futures can reveal.

A ‘virtual network’ of law firms that claims to be the first of its kind is gearing up to launch in February, aimed at giving smaller higher street firms a national reach and helping them compete with larger firms.

Slater & Gordon’s series of acquisitions is set to topple the likes of Irwin Mitchell and Thompsons and gain it the leading position in the hugely competitive online personal injury market, an analysis seen exclusively by Legal Futures has found.

Alternative business structure Brilliant Law has scored a major affinity deal by teaming up with leading broker network Keychoice. Meanwhile, a law firm has received a £50,000 grant from the Welsh government to launch a legal e-commerce service.

Legal academics had teamed up with an online directory of lawyers in an attempt to develop internet software that will harness research findings on how people choose a lawyer in order to match consumers with the right lawyer.

Widespread data snooping by the US National Security Agency, as revealed by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, could threaten the security of cloud computing for law firms acting in confidential merger negotiations, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned.

The co-founder of PayPal has invested in a start-up that aims to help clients find lawyers and then collaborate with them through an online platform – and is targeting the UK in the next few months – Legal Futures can reveal.

An online dispute resolution business that spun out of eBay is heading to the UK after receiving a $5m cash injection from venture capitalists. Modria is setting up its European operation in the UK, where it will be headed by solicitor Graham Ross.

A new ‘find a lawyer’ service just launched in America has designs on coming to the UK next year, Legal Futures can reveal. The long-term goal of LawVisors is to be a “legal ecosystem” for lawyers and clients alike.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s reluctance to give detailed guidance to law firms on cloud computing could be because it is “waiting for something to go wrong” before it acts, a report has suggested.

The abolition of referral fees is “dramatically reshaping” the online personal injury (PI) market, with legal brands pushing out claims management companies, according to major new research seen exclusively by Legal Futures.

Artificial intelligence will be in widespread use by tomorrow’s law businesses, serving clients who will be mobile users of “digital personal assistants” that use holographic displays and respond to the thoughts of their owners, according to futurologists.

Evident Legal, the law firm franchise turned online legal service Simplify the Law, has secured a cash injection from a venture capitalist to help it grow. The investor, ARC InterCapital, was set up by former Goldman Sachs vice-president Andrew Dixon.

An innovative US website that crowdsources advice to legal questions for free is on its way to the UK after it was acquired by online document service Rocket Lawyer, Legal Futures can reveal. LawPivot provides answers to any legal question from a network of more than 2,000 lawyers.