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08 March 2018 / Clare Arthurs , Richard Marshall
Issue: 7784 / Categories: Features , Profession
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A practical alphabet

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Clare Arthurs & Richard Marshall share an (almost) A-Z guide to the future of law

 

 

Automation
Using software to perform simple tasks automatically, such as populating a contract using information about the parties etc already entered into a firm’s DMS. Time and effort saving.

Blockchain
An ordered, continuously growing list of time-stamped records (‘blocks’) that update in real time. Extremely secure and hard to edit. The future of how we hold and access information?

Cryptocurrency
Digital money, often protected by Blockchain. Increasingly widely used but still unregulated and somewhat volatile. Some law firms already accept cryptocurrency as payment: will you?

Digitisation
A key part of the government’s £700m reform programme for modernising the court system in the UK. Just nobody mention e-borders. Or Universal Credit. Or the NHS...

E-signatures
High quality e-signatures can help authenticate a signatory, guarantee a document’s integrity, and provide satisfaction as to the origin of the signature.  

Fixed costs
As far as we know, the government is (in its spare time) considering Jackson LJ proposal’s

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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
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
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’
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