Technology

Commercial law firms based in the UK are falling behind their global rivals in adopting new technology, including artificial intelligence and data analytics, a report has warned.

Leading City law firm Kennedys has spun off its technology development into a separate business, dubbing its ‘Kennedys, without the lawyers’.

A partnership with IBM is helping leading consumer law forum LegalBeagles develop a chatbot that will answer the types of questions that people are regularly posting on the site.

A pilot of fully video hearings in the civil courts is to be extended and turned from opt-in to opt-out so as to drive more cases through the system, the Civil Procedure Rule Committee has decided.

An app to help small business owners diagnose and get guidance on their legal problems has gone live – with a consumer version set to launch later this year – in the wake of a huge research project.

A body that identifies gaps in the regulatory landscape on the use of artificial intelligence and advises individual regulators is needed as the technology develops, the government has been told.

Four legal businesses are among 30 chosen to join a flagship programme for mid-stage, fast-growing tech companies, with organisers saying it shows how the legal market is ripe for disruption.

The transformation of legal contracts into technology-boosted “dynamic modular agreements” has caught the attention of a major investor, which has ploughed $5m (£3.8m) into lawtech start-up Juro.

A start-up aiming to give home buyers access to all the information on their move via an app is set to launch a pilot with several leading software providers – and through them law firms.

The UK legal arm of big four accountant Deloitte has become the latest law firm to launch a tech lab to incubate lawtech start-ups.

Tech is a key element of growth in UK legal services, while investment deriving from market liberalisation and alternative providers increasingly linking up with law firms has strengthened the sector.

Global law firm giant Reed Smith has launched a product that automates the legal bit of online competitions, with lawyers or non-legal consumers able to generate t&cs in multiple languages in compliance with local laws.

Law firms are “way ahead” of in-house lawyers in adoption of legal tech and the latter need to “grasp the nettle”, the chief executive of a start-up which helps corporate counsel manage their workload has argued.

Lawyers’ devotion to billable hour has stopped truly disruptive technology from changing the way legal services are delivered to the public, last week’s Legal Futures Innovation Conference was told.

Arbitration and online dispute resolution should be used when there are disputes about smart contracts, the Chancellor of the High Court has said.