The Law Society has recently collaborated with academic researchers to evaluate adoption, attitudes towards, and intended use of legal technology within solicitor firms. 106 It has also produced guidance and training materials on legal technology 107 , including on ethical aspects 108 , developed the “Tech Talks” podcast series 109 , published research on legal technology adoption 110 , and designed a technology curriculum for solicitors. 111 The Bar Council offers a resources section on its website with (infrequent) technology updates and Q&A. 112 At the industry level, the importance of technology in law has found clear recognition in the efforts of major law firms to develop innovative products, support legal technology providers, and introduce technology across many of their services. Examples abound: Linklaters backed its own legal technology start-up, Nakhoda, in 2017 113 and has developed a number of highly successful technology products, including CreateIQ 114 ; Allen & Overy has opened the Fuse hub to support the development of legal technology and collaboration between technology providers, clients and the firm’s lawyers 115 ; Simmons & Simmons acquired technology firm Wavelength in 2019 116 , to create its own legal engineering firm, Simmons Wavelength 117 ; Mishcon de Reya’s MDR Lab provides an incubator for legal technology start- ups 118 ; Slaughter and May runs a Collaborate programme for innovator and entrepreneurs 119 , offers a Client Innovation Network for in-house legal teams 120 , and spearheaded development of Luminance 121 , a leading AI legal technology product. 106 The Law Society, “We've collaborated on a new report on attitudes towards Lawtech adoption with University of Manchester and UCL” (5 July 2023), available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/research/read-our-new-report-on-attitudes-towards- lawtech-adoption. 107 The Law Society, “Lawtech”, available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/lawtech/. 108 The Law Society, “Lawtech and ethics principles report” (28 July 2021), available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/research/lawtech-and-ethics-principles-report-2021. 109 The Law Society, “Tech Talks - an introduction to lawtech” (21 May 2019), available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/lawtech/podcasts/tech-talks-an-introduction-to-lawtech. 110 The Law Society, “Lawtech Adoption Research report” (14 February 2019), available at 112 The Bar Council, “Resource Library”, available at https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource-library.html?q=technology. 113 The Global City, “Nakhoda CEO Shilpa Bhandarkar tells us about the thriving UK legal tech scene”, available at https://www.theglobalcity.uk/resources/case-studies/nakhoda. 114 Linklaters, “Linklaters > Nakhoda”, available at https://www.linklaters.com/en/about-us/nakhoda. 115 Allen & Overy, “Tech innovation”, available at https://www.allenovery.com/en- gb/global/expertise/advanced_delivery/tech_innovation. 116 Caroline Hill, “Why Wavelength sold to Simmons” (Legal It Insider, 9 September 2019), available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/research/lawtech-adoption-report. 111 The Law Society, “Improve your professional development”, available at https://learn.lawsociety.org.uk/?fwp_curriculum=technology.
https://legaltechnology.com/2019/09/09/why-wavelength-sold-to-simmons/. 117 See https://www.simmons-simmons.com/en/expertise/service/wavelength. 118 See https://lab.mdr.london/. 119 See https://www.slaughterandmay.com/our-firm/innovation/collaborate/. 120 See https://www.slaughterandmay.com/our-firm/innovation/client-innovation-network/.
121 Slaughter and May, “Luminance launches with backing of invoke capital and in collaboration with Slaughter and May” (14 September 2016), available at https://www.slaughterandmay.com/news/luminance-launches-with-backing-of-invoke-capital- and-in-collaboration-with-slaughter-and-may/.
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