Launch of Legal Innovation Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legal Innovation Centre launched at Ulster University. The Legal Innovation centre at Ulster University brings together the law school, school of computing and intelligent systems, and global law firms Allen & Overy and Baker McKenzie. The centre – which have received financial backing from Invest Northern Ireland as well as the two law firms – aims to provide education and training to equip law students and legal professionals “with the tools to navigate the emerging tech-driven legal services market”.

“The Centre will also enable those interested in LawTech, whether legal professionals, law students or others, to study the technological transformation of legal practice, and the implications of this change. In this way it will foster the emergence of legal technologists, ready for the challenges of legal service provision in the information age.

The Centre will be led by three Ulster University academics: Professor Eugene McNamee (Law) Professor Kevin Curran (Computer Science) and Centre Director, Dr Catrina Denvir. The Centre will give students and lawyers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with different types of legal technology software provided by the University’s academic partners, Clio and Caselines. Clio is the world’s leading cloud-based law practice management platform and Caselines is the market-leading service for the preparation of legal bundles and electronic presentation in the court room.

It is also undertaking research for industry clients, the public sector and the academic community, to explore and better understand the impact of legal technology, and developing technological innovations through partnership with stakeholders in order to capitalise on the benefits of tech-enabled practice. There are similar centres already in the US.

The Legal Innovation Centre welcomes opportunities for collaboration, partnership and knowledge-exchange, and looks forward to working with partners to realise the benefits of technology in enhancing the work of the legal services profession and promoting access to justice.