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05 May 2017 / Chris Chapman
Issue: 7744 / Categories: Features , Technology
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A new technological age

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Chris Chapman reviews the role of technology in shaping legal practice today & tomorrow

With technology developing at such a rapid pace, it is difficult to predict how it might shape the law and the role of practitioners in years to come. On the one hand we are sitting on the brink of an artificial intelligence (AI) and automation revolution that will take us into a new technological age in ways that will have huge implications for society at large, while on the other regulators are placing increased scrutiny on the regulatory and privacy risks caused by advances in technology. How this push and pull will play out is unknown but there is no doubt that technological advancements discussed below are already changing how law is practised and regulated and the nature of wrongdoing itself.

Criminally-efficient algorithms

What sounds like science-fiction is actually becoming science fact; computer programs committing crimes by inadvertently forming so-called digital price-fixing cartels.

Companies working in the travel, retail and hospitality industry have long relied on automated pricing systems to

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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