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Levelling up access to justice

18 June 2021 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7937 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Technology , Covid-19
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In the first of a three-part series, Roger Smith explores the current & future state of the access to justice sector

Few would dissent from the proposition that technology is changing our world—from online shopping to the application of artificial intelligence. And there would be similarly little opposition to the observation that technology is, more specifically, changing the practice of commercial law. Just look at the investment that firms like Allen & Overy are making in their own in-house innovation hubs to anticipate developments in the law tech market.

By contrast, the impact of technology on access to justice is much less clear. This article is the first of four to look at this issue. It covers some of the general issues. Three subsequent pieces will cover separate elements—legal practices focusing on clients with low incomes; the not-for-profit sector; and the courts.

Patchwork funding

Part of the obscurity comes just from the concept of ‘access to justice’ itself. This is a handy, ‘you know what I mean’ kind

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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