Law Society report: Technology, access to justice and the rule of law
Published 01/10/2019 by Lisa Naylor
The Law Society's report presents a thorough and interesting look at the impact of technology on the access to justice sector and what can be done to make improvements in the future.
In September, the Law Society published a report on the use of technology in the access to justice sector. Some of the key recommendations are:
- To develop “a blueprint for innovation” which puts people with legal needs at the centre of the design process.
- To establish an open source platform which would host a directory of available technologies alongside problem statements.
- To support coordination and collaborative work across government bodies, private sector and third sector organisations offering funds for legal technology and access to justice
initiatives to encourage long-term investment in the sector.
Attracting wide interest, it has been well covered in the legal press, with recognition that technology is commonly used but suffers from lack of co-ordination, resulting in calls for government bodies, private sector and third sector organisations offering funds for legal technology and access to justice initiatives to agree on a set of principles to encourage long-term investment.
Roger Smith commented on his Law, Technology and Access to Justice blog that: “The report… provides a fair appreciation of current developments within the access to justice sector”, while going on to make some very useful suggestions for how the next report on this difficult issue might be even more constructive.
We are looking forward to working closely with the Law Society to support the implementation of these recommendations.
