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06 February 2015 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7639 / Categories: Opinion , Human rights
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Texas hold’em

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Roger Smith reports on a busy start to 2015

The Legal Services Corporation (the federal US legal aid funder) held its 15th annual Technology Initiatives Grant conference in San Antonio this year. The town is best known for the Alamo; the death of Davy Crockett (whose most memorable quote is celebrated on widely available fridge magnets—“You can all go to hell, I am going to Texas”); and as a tourist destination. During the cheap season in January, 290 techies and interested managers turned up to discuss the latest advances in the use of technology in delivering legal services to the poor. To their great credit, the organisers began with an international session—dominated by the two jurisdictions most at the cutting edge of developments—the Netherlands and British Columbia. Thus, there was a presentation of the impressive latest version (2.0) of the Dutch Rechtwijzer project and British Columbia’s online end to end, advice to resolution programme—the civil resolution tribunal—both of which are due to go fully live this year.

The core of the conference was provided by presentations

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Taylor Rose—Jessica Draganescu & Emily Hewlett

Taylor Rose—Jessica Draganescu & Emily Hewlett

Firm strengthens growth strategy and group litigation capability with senior hires

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
The legal profession’s claim to be a ‘guardian of fairness’ is under scrutiny after stark findings on gender imbalance and opaque progression. Writing in NLJ this week, Joshua Purser of No5 Barristers’ Chambers and Govindi Deerasinghe of Global 50/50 warn that leadership remains dominated by a narrow elite, with men holding 71% of top court roles
A legal challenge to police disclosure rules has failed, reinforcing a push for transparency in policing. In NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth examines a case where the Metropolitan Police required officers to declare membership of groups like the Freemasons
Bereavement leave is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Writing in NLJ this week, Robert Hargreaves of York St John University explains how the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a day-one right to leave for a wider range of losses, alongside new provisions for pregnancy loss and bereaved partners
Courts are beginning to grapple with whether AI-generated material is legally privileged—and the answers are mixed. In this week's issue of NLJ, Stacie Bourton, Tom Whittaker & Beata Kolodziej of Burges Salmon examine US rulings showing how easily privilege can be lost
New guidance seeks to bring order to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Minesh Tanna and David Bridge of Simmons & Simmons set out a framework stressing ‘transparency’, ‘explainability’ and ‘reliability’
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