Technology

A global law firm is deploying robotic process automation software in its high-volume legal practices, in some cases reducing the time taken to complete tasks from 35 minutes to just four minutes. But it told Legal Futures that its aim was to improve efficiency, not replace people.

A group of volunteer lawyers and software developers worked over last weekend to create a new app to help travellers impacted by the Trump administration’s ‘immigration ban’, in what has been described as a “fantastic example of rapid prototyping and iterative design”.

Baker McKenzie, the world’s second biggest law firm, has announced plans to introduce due diligence software based on machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, as part of an innovation drive that looks to import ‘design thinking’ into how it delivers legal services.

A start-up using artificial intelligence (AI) to filter news and information, offering services that include being able to track how firms are perceived in the media and also give them intelligence tailored to their clients’ businesses, has acquired several major practices as clients.

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.

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.

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.