A ‘roaming incubator’ to nurture lawtech startups in the regions is among the ideas on the menu for the next phase of the government-backed LawtechUK initiative, launched in Edinburgh yesterday. The initiative, which has funding of £2m for the next two years, will focus on technology that fills gaps in access to justice, its new management team said yesterday.
In a welcome message, justice minister Mike Freer MP hailed the legal services sector as ‘one of our greatest exports’ and said lawtech has a ‘starring role’. He revealed that he will be leading a delegation of UK lawtech startup businesses to Singapore next month.
The first phase of LawtechUK, set up in 2019 to ‘transform the legal sector through technology’ was run by the London-based technology network Tech Nation. It was replaced earlier this year by an Edinburgh-based tech incubator, CodeBase, and niche networking events organiser Legal Geek.
Legal Geek founder Jimmy Vestbirk said that the next phase would be less London-centric. Plans include drawing up a 'Lawtech UK delivery map' to identify areas where there are gaps. Events are planned in Cardiff and Belfast, following the Edinburgh launch, which attracted more than 100 in-person attendees. ‘We will continue to roam the UK,’ Vestbirk said. 'We’re looking next year at a roaming lawtech incubator.'
Other plans include three community education programmes, with a common theme of mentoring innovators, Martin Boyle of CodeBase said. These will range from ‘lawtech basics’ an online programme, to ‘lawtech next steps’, for people who have developed a product and are looking to grow.
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