The British Legal Technology Forum took place in London on March 8th, 2016 and saw over 1,100 visitors from the legal tech community from the UK, Continental Europe and other parts of the world. Nextlaw Ventures CEO Dan Jansen attended and delivered a presentation on “Collaboration Driving the Re-invention of the Legal Practice”. Dan discussed the imperative for innovation in law, the formation and vision of Nextlaw Labs and Nextlaw Ventures, and trends in legal tech including emerging industries like block chain and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as maturation of established legal technology such as e-discovery and document automation. Dan also spoke on the importance of collaboration in legal industry innovation by partnering with law firm clients and general counsel.
The forum boasted a full agenda which examined and explored the systems, strategies, processes and platforms that will drive law firms and legal businesses into the next decade and beyond.
Artificial intelligence in the legal space was one of the major themes of the conference. Richard Susskind (Conference Chairman and President of the Society for Computers and Law) delivered the keynote speech as well as a dual presentation with David Susskind on “The Future of the Profession,” in which they discussed how ‘increasingly capable systems’ such as artificial intelligence will bring fundamental change in the way that the ‘practical expertise’ of specialists is made available to society.
Nextlaw Labs advisory board member Dan Katz was also in attendance as a keynote speaker and presented on “Fin (Legal) Tech – Law’s Future from Finance’s Past.” Dan highlighted the similarities between many elements of today’s legal industry and the financial industry of 25-50 years ago, noting key lessons the legal tech community can learn from finance tech. Dan also spoke about the mainstreaming of AI technology and also about how block chain technology behind bitcoin is fast becoming pivotal in the world of Fin (Legal) Tech.
The venue was packed and bustling with activity, an exciting indicator that Europe’s legal tech community is truly booming.
