Legal and technology professionals on opposite sides of the world
are set to benefit from bolstered connections between the UK and
Australia through the UK Government's GREAT Legal Services
campaign's latest programme of events.
Taking place over the next 2 days (13 and 14 May 2024), Justice
Minister will lead a delegation of UK
professionals specialising in legal tech services – and builds on
the success of last year's conference which resulted in millions
of pounds worth of business deals.
They will interact with Australian professionals through a series
of workshops, roundtables and networking events arranged in
partnership with the Department for Business and Trade.
This will support UK lawtechs – companies which make technology
or software to provide legal services – to win business and grow
their market presence in Australia. Figures show UK legal
services providers already exported £88 million worth of business
to Australia in 2023.
The trip will help develop a pipeline of Australian legal tech
firms to be set up or expand in the UK, further cement the UK's
position as a world leader in legal services and legal technology
and support smaller regional firms to trade internationally.
Built around Sydney's annual Legal Innovation and Tech Fest, this
is the second year in a row a programme of events to facilitate
legal knowledge sharing between the legal sectors of both
countries will take place. Companies who attended last May
reported business wins of £16.5 million.
Justice Minister, , said:
I'm proud of our legal services' world-leading reputation and
that's exactly why I'm visiting Australia as well as Singapore –
so we can continue sharing our expertise with others and learn
from them to maintain our competitive edge.
Importantly, promoting the UK's legal and tech sectors abroad
helps build connections and ultimately bring investment back to
the UK – just as we've seen from the success of last year's
conference which resulted in millions of pounds worth of business
deals.
The delegation is made up of legal tech firms from across the UK
with a range of innovative solutions, including some already
turning over £20 million a year. For example, Avvoka, a
legal tech firm, are expert in legal document automation –
meaning they create automated templates using software for legal
documents such as contracts - and already have clients around the
world, including in the US, Singapore and Australia.
Of particular interest to Australian counterparts is learning
more about how the UK Government supports innovation in the
lawtech sector and whether any initiatives such as LawtechUK – a
government-backed initiative dedicated to driving digital
transformation in the legal sector - could be replicated, where
the UK is seen as a global leader.
British Consul General and Deputy Trade Commissioner Asia
Pacific, Louise Cantillon said:
I am delighted to welcome Minister Freer and these eight UK legal
tech companies, who epitomise the evolution of legal tech in the
UK and are eager to understand and engage with the Australian
market.
Australia and the UK have a long legal history together, and we
have entered a new and exciting era in our bilateral relations as
we approach the anniversary of the UK-Australia Free Trade
Agreement's entry into force. The FTA has created new legal and
professional services opportunities for both countries, and
strengthened the exchange of talent, ideas, and innovation.
A full programme of events is taking place from 9 to 17 May 2024
in Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. In Singapore, Minister Freer
will be looking at the latest technology on probate, court
transcripts, AI and discussing how to reduce the legal services
regulatory barriers for British lawyers. In Australia, the
minister is leading a trade delegation of lawtech companies.
The visit progresses wider UK Government interests in boosting
bilateral trade and cooperation with Australia, including the
utilisation of a free-trade deal which came into force nearly a
year ago to reduce the barriers to exchanging goods and
services.
This is part of the government being able to secure unprecedented
legal services market access commitments in four Free Trade
Agreements (EU, EEA-EFTA, Australia and New Zealand) covering £2
billion worth of UK legal services exports.
Notes to editors
- The UK-Australia FTA provides certainty for legal-tech
companies that UK lawyers can advise on home (UK), foreign and
international law in Australia using their UK titles and
qualification, without needing to requalify again Australia. The
Legal Services Regulatory Dialogue, a forum of key
representatives from both countries' legal sectors which was
established in the FTA, facilitates greater knowledge and
expertise sharing, and has committed to exploring closer
UK-Australia cooperation on emerging issues relating to legal
technology and artificial intelligence. More
information can be found on the GREAT website
- More information on the GREAT Legal
Services campaign can be found on Linkedin
- The GREAT Legal Services campaign works to showcase the UK's
world-leading legal sector around the globe and make connections
between UK legal professionals and counterparts in other
countries. In the past year, this has included events in
Singapore, Kenya, Tanzania, France and South Africa, as well as
engagement with the legal sector in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh
and Leeds, and targeted media and social media activity.
