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NLJ this week: AI & crypto-wallet freezing

24 May 2024
Issue: 8072 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Artificial intelligence , Technology , Crypto , Cyber , Cybercrime
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There’s a double bill of tech in this week’s NLJ. Ian McDougall, EVP & general counsel, LexisNexis Legal & Professional, sets out what lawyers need to know about artificial intelligence (AI). Nick Barnard, partner, Corker Binning, reports on new legislative tools being used by enforcement agencies to seize, freeze or destroy cryptoassets

McDougall explains what AI is, how it works, the difference between extractive and generative AI, and why lawyers should embrace closed AI models. From the Turing Test to large language models, his engaging, easy-to-understand article cuts through the hype. He writes: ‘It is not on a quest for truth and morality… It uses statistical analysis to predict the next most sequentially probable word and then produce it.’

Barnard looks at recent amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 that introduce crypto-wallet freezing orders and crypto-wallet forfeiture orders. Criminals love cryptoassets due to the fact they’re easy to hide and difficult to trace. Barnard explains why he thinks judges and magistrates are unlikely to refuse applications for the new freezing and forfeiture orders. He offers tips on how to advise clients who are on the receiving end of such orders.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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