The LegalTech North Conference aims to bridge the gap between law and technology, bringing lawyers together with innovative tech solutions. The one day event in November will explore how technology can be used to resolve key challenges facing law firms today. The conference will also see the launch of a new legaltech incubator.
Leading voices from the legaltech world will be speaking at the conference, with keynote presentations from Joanna Goodman, author of ‘Robots in Law: How Artificial Intelligence is transforming legal services’ and Heather Anson of Sheffield based Anson Evaluate.
The conference was born from a desire to attract more legaltech start-ups to Sheffield and the wider northern region.
Matthew Pennington, Conference co-organiser of QuoteXpress, explains: “Sheffield has a vibrant tech community and start-up costs here and across the north in general are so much lower than in the south. With two excellent universities, a range of expert tech companies, and a number of top class law firms there’s a highly skilled talent pool readily available here.
“Combined with access to incubation programmes in the city, Sheffield really is a great place to launch the next big thing in legaltech. The conference will get lawyers to question how they approach tasks on a day to day basis within their own firms, and consider whether introducing technology (either bought in or created in-house) could improve the services they offer.”
Sheffield-based innovation platform Kollider is co-hosting the conference and will be launching a new incubator for legaltech start-ups. This will provide early stage funding as well as incubation space in the city centre.
Adrian Hackett, co-founder of Kollider, said of the plan: “Given the number of legal firms headquartered in Sheffield, the city is an ideal location for legal firms to collaborate with start-ups to develop new technology to deliver next generation legal services.”
Harvey Harding, Managing Director of Sheffield law firm PM Property Lawyers and conference co-organiser, adds: “Lawyers tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to technology, so we have to get out there and show them how it can make law firms run more effectively and more efficiently. Client expectations are increasing all the time and legaltech has to be a key part of every successful firm’s armoury.”
Delegates to the conference will have the opportunity to hear from speakers who have been involved in helping firms adopt legal technology, or who have a law background and have gone on to build their own legaltech solutions. There will also be sessions on regulation and data privacy in regard to legaltech plus hands-on workshops where delegates can see for them themselves how legaltech could be used within their own firms.
Readers of any Today’s publication will be entitled to a 20% discount on all event tickets. To ensure that you grab your ticket to the legal technology event of the year, simply add the discount code TODAY18 when booking.
The conference will take place at Sheffield Hallam University Student’s Union on 22 November. More details and ticket availability can be found on the conference website – https://www.legaltechnorth.com/.
