Technology solution to access to justice crisis 'tantalisingly close' says LawtechUK chief

A technology-based solution to the access to justice crisis is 'tantalisingly close', the chair of the Ministry of Jusice funded LawtechUK programme said this week. Christina Blacklaws, a former Law Society president, was speaking at the Legal Geek networking event on the future of the LawtechUK initiative, which is due to end next March.

The focus on the remaining months of the programme will be on access to justice, Blacklaws told the Gazette. 'With over 25% of adults in England and Wales experiencing an unmet legal need, this year we have to collectively address this need. The answers are tantalisingly close - we just need to convene the right committed people to make the magic happen.'

A series of workshops in November will bring together practitioners, law firms, in-house counsel, not-for-profits, charities and law tech businesses to identify how technology can bolster justice, she said. 'Our goal is to broker tech-for-good connections through these workshops and increase the dialogue across the legal sector.' 

The programme, which is hosted by Legal Geek and 'ecosystem support organisation' CodeBase, offers free support and resources to help lawtech startups, she said. 'This year we’ll continue to expand our support for startups and scale-ups, push forward our access-to-justice initiatives and support the pace of adoption of the latest technologies. We also want to encourage more investment in the lawtech ecosystem, to fuel the next generation of innovation.'