research commissioned by the SRA to the University of Oxford 124 , and in official UK Government tenders. 125 LawTech is also the term used for the UK Government’s legal technology hub, LawTech UK. However, the term LegalTech has also remained popular and is frequently used in legal research, as well as for conferences 126 , networks of local Law Society branches 127 , and the UK’s largest legal technology association, The Legal Association for the UK (UKLTA). 128 In this report, we use the term LegalTech to refer to the use of technology in legal services, without distinguishing between the outcomes of such use. In this sense, there are no practical differences with the Law Society definition of LawTech, or the unjoined term “legal technology”. The reader should therefore consider all these terms to coincide in scope, for the purposes of this report. 2.3 Technology and innovation Although there is a vast literature on technology and innovation, in this report we have chosen a theoretical approach that allows us to evaluate the Welsh LegalTech ecosystem from the specific perspective of its capacity for disruptive innovation. In this sense, we define innovation in line with criteria set out by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) in its “Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development 129 ” (the so-called Frascati Manual). According to the OECD, research and development activities capable of generating innovation should be characterised by:
• novelty , seeking to generate new knowledge, services or products; • creativity , requiring more than mere routine or trivial changes; • uncertainty , implying a level of risk and unpredictability; • systematicity , through a demonstrable and sustained effort; • transferability or reproducibility , as a way to validate and evidence innovation.
These criteria are generally applied to any scientific field, including social sciences and humanities. On this basis, and mindful of the definition of legal technology discussed above, we formulate the following definition of legal innovation for this report: 124 Sako and Parnham (n 67), 14. 125 Ministry of Justice, “Invitation to application: MoJ Lawtech Grant” (19 October 2022), available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1112341/lawtech-grant- invitation-to-application.pdf. The definition was accompanied, however, by a different set of examples: “Examples include firms moving from paper to digital contracts or using technology to create court bundles automatically, or artificial intelligence tools which help consumers to understand and take action on legal issues online”. 126 For example, see Leeds University Business School, “LegalTech in Leeds 2023 Conference” (26 April 2023), available at https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/events/event/903/legaltech-in-leeds-2023-conference . 127 See Bristol Law Society, “Legal Tech”, available at https://www.bristollawsociety.com/our-work/legaltech/. 128 See https://www.uklta.org.uk/. 129 OECD, Frascati Manual (8 October 2015), available at https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/frascati- manual-2015_9789264239012-en;jsessionid=tacAZKkcA1O9lhn5bSmlTKUXg-kpCUuJMImITZss.ip-10-240-5-179, at 46- 47.
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