Tag Archives: technology

Tech and Pro bono: Domestic and Global perspectives – LawWorks & A4ID

Technology plays an increasingly important role in pro bono work, and Covid-19 has been a catalyst as more services have pivoted to remote delivery. This session, hosted by LawWorks and A4ID, looks at how technology has progressed pro bono, and the role it is likely to play in the future, including how technology can address organisational issues of pro bono work.

This discussion spans both domestic and global pro bono. Globally there is a huge interest in how technology (lawtech) can facilitate access to legal advice and empower communities to use the law. There are equally concerns that lawtech could deepen the ‘digital divide’ and leave vulnerable groups further excluded from good legal advice or from the courts.

Our panel of experts will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with technology for lawyers contributing with their time pro bono to ensure equal access to justice for all, in the UK and abroad.

Panel includes:

  • I. Stephanie Boyce, President of the Law Society
  • Claire McGourlay, University of Manchester
  • Jennifer Cheshire, LawWorks
  • Roger Smith, Consultant
  • Ele Enenche, High Court of Nigeria
  • Adam Wyner, University of Swansea
  • Margaret Hagan, Standford Law School

Register at the Eventbrite link below.

Plugged in Pro Bono: innovation, law tech & Pro Bono in Wales – Legal News Wales, Swansea Law Clinic & Legal Innovation Lab Wales

An online event celebrating Pro Bono Week 2021, to highlight an exciting innovation & LawTech project in Wales that aims to connect local communities with accessible legal advice.

Join Legal News Wales, Swansea Law Clinic, (based in the Hilary Rodham School of Law at Swansea University), the Legal Innovation Lab Wales (LILW) and other speakers to see how the work of a free legal advice clinic in Wales is being used as the basis to measure the use of LawTech and innovation in the legal sector, to enhance and enable access to justice.

In September 2021, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced it had appointed Swansea Law Clinic and the LILW as the Welsh partners for research after the regulator was awarded funding through the UK government’s Regulators Pioneer Fund (RPF).

The award of £167,856 from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will be used to create a new network where regulators, expert research institutions and local government can work together to improve legal access within local communities. They aim to do this by supporting, testing and promoting new and emerging legal technology.

Through this project, the researchers aim to better understand how technology can address the challenges encountered by under-represented and vulnerable communities in accessing legal advice – specifically in the Swansea Bay area, a region supported by Swansea Law Clinic.

We’ll be joined by the project leads in Wales, and other speakers (TBA) at this free, online event to provide:

  • Insight on the six-month project: why Pro Bono has taken centre stage in the research
  • The scope of the research: the communities involved, the free legal advice they might receive and the current challenges
  • Current observations & reflections of the project to date
  • Hope for the impact of the project on how LawTech could further support the provision of Pro Bono and accessible legal services in Wales and in England

Speakers

  • Stefano Barazza, Academic Lead at the Legal Innovation Lab Wales 
  • Professor Richard Owen, Hilary Rodham School of Law, Swansea University 
  • Liz Withers, Head of Welsh Affairs, the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Chaired by: Emma Waddingham, Editor, Legal News Wales & member of the Reaching Justice Wales committee.