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Looking ahead

19 June 2015 / Mark Surguy , Rob Jones , Tracey Stretton
Issue: 7657 / Categories: Features , Profession
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2015 and beyond: are lawyers impervious to change? Mark Surguy & Rob Jones share their thoughts with Tracey Stretton

A lawyer speaking recently on the future of law at Harvard with leading business and legal thinkers observed that the legal profession has proved uniquely impervious to change (“At Harvard Law, Talk of Disruptive Innovation”). Will that change? If your whole life is recorded, as is looking increasingly likely, perhaps all you will ever need to resolve a legal dispute is a search tool capable of working across multiple media formats, a screen for looking at the results, and someone with experience helping with your analysis.

Perhaps we are already there. The Irish High Court in the first ruling of its kind in Europe has approved the use of predictive coding (a form of artificial intelligence) in the document disclosure process ( Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Ltd & ors v Quinn & ors [2015] IEHC 175). The judge stated that in the disclosure of large data sets, technology assisted review

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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