Online courts and cyber judges

Courts in England and Wales have been struggling with information technology for so long now, that expectations of any improvement remain stagnantly low. Nevertheless, the current project to create an Online Court with its own procedure and staff goes beyond anything hitherto attempted. Can it overcome a long history of failed IT projects and deliver […]

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Online courts: the human impact

The testing of online courts should not simply be about whether the technology works, said Andrew Langdon QC, chairman of the Bar, at an event on 16 February hosted by the UCL Judicial Institute, “The Case for Online Courts”. He sensibly pointed out the “human process” of law, and the potential impacts of the transition […]

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Completing legal directory submissions for the Bar

The legal directory industry shows no sign of decline. With the advent of the internet it would have been reasonable to expect the directories business to fade away as more people took to search engines to find their preferred counsel. However, the directories have embraced the internet by providing online versions with relevant information and […]

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Legal services market – who are you afraid of?

I first wrote on this subject for the Newsletter in early 2013. My views have changed quite a lot in the four years since then. I believe we’ve seen that big is not always better, that well run, customer-focused, local law firms can survive and that trying to roll up 200 separate law firms under […]

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Digitising the courts

Within the legal sector there is now an increasing clamour about the use of technology to leverage greater innovation. Everyone wants to be seen as cutting-edge, tech savvy and as “true pioneers of innovation”. It’s almost a race by some to differentiate themselves from the competition through technology. However, if all the top law firms […]

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What is predictive coding?

Predictive coding is a form of technology assisted review (TAR) used to assess the relevance of high volumes of documents for purposes of electronic disclosure (e-disclosure). E-disclosure refers to the disclosure of all electronically stored information (ESI) – as opposed to any hard copy documents – as part of the litigation process. How does it […]

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Solicitors selling legal services online

About 10 years ago there was a strong feeling in the legal profession that selling legal services and documents online was going to be one of the big features of the future. I set up a section on my website for this topic at www.venables.co.uk/selling.htm with subdivisions for firms of solicitors doing this, companies doing […]

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RSS is dying, right?

I am a long-time proponent of RSS but am aware that it is declining in visibility. Many sites large and small are not offering RSS feeds any more. What’s up? First, for those not familiar with RSS, it is a way to subscribe to latest update feeds from websites. You find RSS (or Atom) data […]

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Delia’s legal web picks January 2017

This article first appeared in Legal Web Watch February 2017. Legal Web Watch is a free email service which complements the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. To receive Legal Web Watch regularly sign up here. The following items have been selected from Delia Venables’ “New” page. Tickit launches Carpe Diem as a new cloud-based timekeeping app […]

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Why intellectual property matters to your practice

In the previous issue of the Newsletter, Jordan Furlong highlighted how artificial intelligence and expert systems are being deployed in law firms, and will transform the legal industry. One implication of this is that law firms will be “marketing themselves as enterprises whose value and identities are independent of their lawyers”. If you’re minded to […]

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Online publishing news

Legislation.gov.uk Following the promotion of John Sheridan to Digital Director at The National Archives, Matthew Bell has been appointed the new Head of Legislation Services. A law graduate from Manchester University, Matt started his career in legal publishing in 1999 when he joined Sweet and Maxwell to help establish Westlaw UK. By the time he […]

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The virtual law firm three years on

More than three years ago I wrote an article for this Newsletter extolling (in the main) the benefits of using a virtual approach to working in the digital age by virtualising legal services. The last three years have seen a further embedding of virtual law firms in the legal marketplace, with Keystone Law becoming a […]

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