Five things we learned from the Legal Geek Conference 2017
The second annual Legal Geek conference brought together a diverse group of people from across the legal sector and LegalTech industry. The day provided a great overview of what’s currently going on in LegalTech and was a strong indicator of just how much interest there is in improving provision of legal services through better use of technology.
The first thing we learned — Jimmy Vestbirk really doesn’t like Robots or ties, and presumably tie wearing robots are the stuff of nightmares. Here our top five takeaway points from the Legal Geek Conference 2017:
1. A lot more Americans are enjoying Avocado Toast than they were three years ago
Noah Waisberg of Kira and Rick Seabrook of Neota Logic decided to make their favourite breakfast on stage as a way to demonstrate bricolage in LegalTech, whereby the offerings of several LegalTech providers are brought together to create something new and unique in the marketplace. The rapid growth in avocado sales was likened to the rapid growth in the LegalTech sector.
2. Law firms should move away from one size fits all solutions
Alex Smith heads up the Innovation Hub programme at Reed Smith, as their Innovation Manager. Alex spoke about the need for firms to use “best in class” solutions for each business task, and the importance of them being able to work together. He was adamant that the idea of the “owning the desktop” as a tech provider was a thing of the past, as their was such a range of great technology out there which might excel at a given task, or combined to create better in house solutions.
3. Real Estate due diligence goes into orbit
Orbital Witness are making use of satellite imagery in order to address information gaps in real estate due diligence. By looking at satellite images over time they are able to provide an understanding of the changes a given site may have gone through over time. Orbital Witness are part of Mishcon de Reya’s innovation incubator MDR LAB.
4. The Law Society has partnered with a LegalTech startup investment provider
The Law Society has partnered with Seedrs, with the aim of connecting its members with LawTech startups looking for funding. Venture Capital companies are just starting to properly look at the LegalTech sector for investment opportunities, and interest will no doubt continue to grow. The Law Society wants to see more collaboration and technological innovation within the legal sector, which leads nicely onto…
5. Regulatory Sandboxes
Crispin Passmore from the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) talked about the SRA Innovate programme. The programme allows law firm and tech providers more freedom to test new technology solutions without the fear of ending up on the wrong side of the regulator — making it easy for innovation to thrive. Delegates with strong ties to the American legal sector seemed very jealous by this move, which should make it much easier for law firms in England and Wales to explore new and innovative ways to provide legal services.
Originally published at Technomancers — Legal Technology Blog.
