Access to justice through technology: the providers

The Law Society, in its report Technology, Access to Justice and the Rule of Law, published September 2019, defines the “Access to Justice Sector” as “Comprised of all organisations supplying access to justice services. It includes law firms, Not for Profits, individual practitioner barristers and solicitors, in-house legal teams, government bodies, academics, LawTech businesses and […]

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California passes landmark gig economy rights bill

The rise of the gig economy and zero hours contracts – often facilitated by the internet and apps such as Uber, Deliveroo and Limber – has been the subject of vigorous debate over recent years. Governments across the world have been grappling with the implications for employment law and wider society, balancing the boost to […]

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Right to be forgotten on Google only applies in EU

Much has been written about the problems surrounding permanence of data once it has been uploaded to the internet – whether it’s a misjudged Twitter comment by a politician from 10 years ago, or a risqué photo from bacchanalian university days which emerges when someone is looking for a job. The difficulty of erasure impinges […]

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MPP Solicitors’ reliable one-stop-shop provision from Quill

Seeking one-stop-shop provision is a growing trend amongst law firms on their quest for convenience, efficiency, support, cost and security improvements. By having their main software and outsourcing service needs met by one primary supplier, legal practices gain all these benefits and more. To clarify… Convenience: There’s one contract and one point of contact which […]

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Facial recognition in public spaces

Live facial recognition technology or automatic facial recognition (AFR) adds another dimension to CCTV monitoring and other surveillance methods. Using biometrics (certain physical and physiological features), the technology can map facial features to identify particular individuals by matching these with a database of known faces. This technology has been in use for some years by […]

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The big data regulation debate

Back in 2006, Sheffield mathematician Clive Humby declared “data is the new oil” after reaping the benefits of helping to set up a supermarket loyalty card scheme. This was the same year that Facebook went mainstream, accelerating the pace of data harvesting and spawning an entire industry devoted to the collection, analysis and monetisation of […]

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Facebook’s Libra under the regulatory spotlight

“This project contains risks of abuse of dominant position, risks to sovereignty and risks for consumers and for companies” (Bruno Le Maire, French Finance Minister) In June Facebook announced to much public fanfare that it intends to roll out a new digital currency called Libra for use in 2020, allowing its users across the globe […]

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Juriosity: building a legal marketplace

Juriosity.com was launched in partnership with the Bar Council of England and Wales in 2018. In its current form, the platform provides a directory of practising barristers and other legal professionals and a self-publishing platform enabling barristers (and other approved contributors) to publish short articles on legal developments, cases they have been involved in (or […]

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The ultimate law firm website checklist

It’s all about the first impression. For most potential clients, your website is your shopfront. Does it belong on Oxford street or skid row? This guide will help you find out. Step 1 – Google your firm The first step is to search for your firm in Google (I’m sure you don’t need a step-by-step […]

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New digital services tax implemented in France

Governments around the world have grappled with the challenge of sufficiently taxing international companies – particularly peripatetic tech giants – which aggressively pursue policies of (perfectly legal) tax avoidance. One of the main reasons that so many Silicon Valley icons decide to base their European operations in Dublin (including Google and Apple) is due to […]

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Max Schrems: the return

In the wake of growing data protection concerns around the turn of the century, a framework dubbed “Safe Harbor” was agreed between the EU and the US in 2000, which essentially permitted transatlantic free-flow of personal data. Towards the end of 2015, as a result of one of several legal challenges brought by prolific Austrian […]

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First GDPR level fines in the UK

One of the key changes brought about by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018, was a substantial increase in the maximum fines available for data protection breaches, to the higher of €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover. Any breaches which occurred prior to this date […]

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