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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

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

Blake Morgan managing partner appointed chair of CBI South-East Council

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Commercial dispute resolution team welcomes partner in Cambridge

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

NEWS
The proposed £11bn redress scheme following the Supreme Court’s motor finance rulings is analysed in this week’s NLJ by Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
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