2.2 LegalTech and LawTech In line with other sectors which are undergoing significant transformations as a result of technological changes, such as FinTech, EdTech, or RegTech, legal technology is commonly defined as LegalTech or LawTech. 122 Although the two terms are generally used interchangeably, they are sometimes seen as emphasising two different aspects of the transformation of the sector through technology: (i) the rise of technology tools designed for, and used by, lawyers to improve the efficiency of existing processes (e.g. contractual negotiations, case law analysis, eDiscovery, etc.) or automatise routine activities ( LegalTech ), and (ii) the emergence of new forms of legal services (such as legal advice chatbots, robolawyers, automated dispute resolution systems, etc.) directed to consumers ( LawTech ). This distinction, while useful to identify different trends and practices across the two dimensions of legal technology, is frequently challenged by the dual nature of many technologies: for example, know-your-client technology that automatises client verification improves an existing process, but also directly interact with consumers as a stand-alone service. Similarly, blockchain technologies, including smart contracts deployed in such context, can hardly be classified into one of the two aspects, and appear to straddle the two. More recently, LawTech seems to have assumed a broader meaning, possibly for the reasons just mentioned. The Law Society defines LawTech as: Lawtech is the term we use to describe technologies that aim to support, supplement or replace traditional methods for delivering legal services, or that improve the way the justice system operates. Lawtech covers a wide range of tools and processes, such as: • document automation • advanced chatbots and practice management tools • predictive artificial intelligence • smart legal contracts • knowledge management and research systems This definition encompasses the use of technology both to improve existing ways of delivering legal services and to create new and disruptive legal services. Thus, the Law Society favours the term LawTech and does not generally 123 use the term LegalTech. The Law Society definition has been adopted in 122 R. Whalen, “Defining legal technology and its implications”, (2022) 30(1) International Journal of Law and Information Technology 47. Other terms, such as New Law, are also used to refer to technology and innovation in law - see Mark A. Cohen, “New Law?: You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” (Forbes, 31 May 2022 ), available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2022/05/31/new-law-you-aint-seen-nothin-yet/. 123 Although the term LegalTech appears sometimes in blog posts hosted by the Law and in articles published by the Law Society itself. See, for example, Alex Heshmaty, “Legaltech in 2021: an evolving landscape” (23 June 2021), available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/blogs/legaltech-in-2021-an-evolving-landscape; and The Law Society, “How legaltech can help you compete against larger firms” (31 January 2019), available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/lawtech/features/how-legaltech-can-help-you-compete.
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