A new £4 million investment will deliver a second phase of the
LawtechUK programme, supporting modernisation through the
development of new technology like machine learning and data
analytics tools.
This will help ensure the UK retains its competitive global edge,
create jobs and boost access to legal services for individuals
and businesses through technology.
LawtechUK is a government-backed initiative, launched in 2019,
with an initial £2 million investment to transform the UK legal
sector through technology, providing resources, programmes and
courses to promote new ways of delivering and accessing legal
services via digital solutions.
Justice Minister QC said:
A thriving lawtech sector will help ensure the UK continues as a
world-leading legal services centre and attracts the very best
talent.
This investment will support the market to develop the technology
it needs to drive modernisation and deliver first-class legal
services.
The LawtechUK programme has been delivered by growth platform
Tech Nation in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and the
LawtechUK Panel, a board of industry experts.
The previous funding for Tech Nation has already seen results
like the launch of the Lawtech Sandbox – a research and
development programme for UK entrepreneurs and start-ups to test
and develop products or services looking to address the legal
needs of businesses and society.
One start-up to benefit from the sandbox is Legal Utopia, an app
designed to help people understand their legal issues and access
lawyers.
Director of LawtechUK Alexandra Lennox said:
Technology has the potential to transform business’ and peoples’
experience of law, meet unmet legal needs and support
professionals to deliver the next generation of legal services.
We have seen great progress towards this future since LawtechUK’s
inception and this next phase of funding will build on those
important foundations, helping cement the UK’s position as a
global hub for technology and law.
Lawtech Amplified Global also participated in the Sandbox.
Founder of Amplified Global Minesh Patel said:
Accelerators, incubators and sandboxes are a lifeline for
start-ups bringing novel solutions into the market. It’s
fantastic to hear about the next series of MoJ funding, which
will enable pioneering solutions to push the boundaries within
the legal space.
Without the Lawtech Sandbox, an organisation of our size and
stage would have found it really difficult to be working, or even
engaging, with a telecoms giant and the cross section of
stakeholders and regulators that we did.
The LawtechUK programme has rapidly accelerated our growth and
helped us to get the product to market quicker than we could have
ever imagined.
LawtechUK aims to improve understanding and awareness of legal
technology and has produced a free online learning and research
hub as well as a website to allow the sharing of experiences of
remote alternatives to traditional court hearings.
The investment will also continue to support and promote the work
of the LawtechUK’s Jurisdiction Taskforce to ensure English law
keeps pace with technological developments - helping the UK to
maintain its place as an international hub for emerging
technologies. This builds on previous work to increase market
understanding of smarter contracts and digital assets by
showcasing real life examples of where these technologies are
being used.
Tech Nation will continue to deliver the LawtechUK programme
until December 2023. Details of a competitive process to award
the next stage of funding will be announced in the autumn. The
new provider will deliver the programme from January 2023 to
March 2025.
Notes to editors:
- The objectives of the funding will aim to build on the
brilliant work delivered so far by LawtechUK in order to:
- Increase innovation and the adoption of lawtech in the
delivery of UK legal services.
- Support the growth of the lawtech sector in the UK.
- Enable English and Welsh law and the UK’s jurisdictions
to become the foundation for emerging technologies, by
supporting and promoting the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce’s
work.
- The LawtechUK Panel was established in 2018 by the Secretary
of State for Justice and acts as the advisory board to LawtechUK.
Made up of senior figures from industry, government, academia,
judiciary, regulators and the legal technology community, its
members take an active role in LawtechUK’s work programme.
