Month: January 2018

What we learned about the internet in 2017 (1): Big Tech

It’s already past the season for annual predictions which have become a staple of the legal tech media. Generally these predictions rely heavily on the direction taken by technologies in the last year, so I thought it would be more fruitful to look at what we collectively learned in 2017, without any added crystal ball-gazing. […]

Read More

What we learned in 2017 (2): AI, robots and social media

AI and robots in law practice From Brian Inkster: AI continued to be a de rigueur slot in legal technology conferences during 2017. But delegates inevitably left these conferences none the wiser as to what they are actually supposed to do with AI in their own legal practices or how much it might cost them. […]

Read More

What we learned in 2017 (3): The courts

The Online Court From Paul Magrath: The Online Court is probably the most significant element in the massive ongoing HMCTS Reform programme, and the one which will have the greatest long term consequences in changing how justice is accessed and administered. The year began with a lecture at Gresham College by Joshua Rozenberg, based on […]

Read More

Thinking strategically about Brexit and data protection

To date, the main legacy of the Brexit referendum of 2016 appears to be a country split in half: some badly wish the UK would continue to be a member of the EU and some are equally keen on making a move. Yet, there seems to be at least one thing on which Remainers and […]

Read More

Transcription, voice recognition, document generation and AI

With contributions from Gordon Healiss, Norma Laming and Greig Duncan When I set up my web page on Transcription www.venables.co.uk/transcription.htm several years ago, it all seemed rather straightforward. I described the methods of input and output, the speed of the transcription, the security of the process and the cost. Now, the concept of transcription has […]

Read More

Links in law and practice

Links are fundamental to the web; without them it would literally not exist. So, it is surprising that legal advice on linking usually starts by counselling the linker that they should first obtain permission. See, for example, Linking and Framing on Out-Law.com (admittedly, that was 2008) and Think before you link on Pitmans’ Insights (2017). […]

Read More

Legal software and IT in Ireland

This short article is based on my web page www.venables.co.uk/softwareireland.htm which provides links to the software companies websites. The “problem” for Ireland, as for any smaller country, has been that the potential market for the sale of legal software is much smaller than for countries with larger numbers of law firms. A few years ago, […]

Read More

Cybercrime explained

Cybercrime has dominated the global headlines over recent years, with the NHS suffering a huge ransomware attack, allegations of Russian hacking affecting the American elections and the confidential data of 143 million people being breached after credit ratings company Equifax was hacked. According to Lloyd’s of London a “serious” cyberattack could cost the global economy […]

Read More