By Lucy Caulkett-
The EU is pumping £4m to fund an innovation lab at a south Wales law school which will carry out research into artificial intelligence (AI) and other legal tech innovations, The Eye Of Media.Com has heard.
The innovation lab, based at Swansea University’s Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, will from mid 2020, include a cyber-threats research suite, a legal AI lab, a legal innovation centre, and a law clinic. The shortfall of £1.6m of the total cost of £5.6m, is to be funded by the university itself.
The law school’s centre for innovation and entrepreneurship in law heads the LegalTech Wales initiative. Legal experts and technological companies are excited about the initiative and keen to assess the impact of technology in legal practice.
Jeremy Miles AM, counsel general and Brexit minister, said that technology would have a role in promoting access for justice as a distinctly Welsh legal system emerges.
He added: ‘The Justice Commission report, published last week, identified opportunities to strengthen the legal sector in Wales. Being able to find and understand the law with reasonable ease goes to the heart of a nation governed by the rule of law,’ he said
The heralded centre also works closely with the Department of Computer Science and they recently jointly appointed an associate professor in law and computer science to specialise in the application of machine learning in the legal domain. Last year, the university launched an LLM in legaltech.
EU funds would be used to enable researchers to work with law firms and others. Working in concurrence with the AI lab will be the university’s law and computer science academics who will work on enhancing the development in new AI techniques, along with machine learning, legal design, and natural language processing.
In a statement, the Welsh government said the lab “will be a unique research and innovation hub that will develop Swansea University’s existing and new partnerships with international law firms, security agencies, professional and trade bodies, and technology and social media companies”.
The law school’s director of knowledge and economy, Dr Chris Marshall, said:
“A core focus of the [lab] will be to help law firms innovate at the intersection of law and technology, whether that means through the better use of data, improving the design of legal processes, or applying machine learning to legal matters.
“The project will also work with law enforcement, security agencies and technology companies to advance understanding of how terrorists and criminals exploit digital platforms and emerging technologies, and to develop safeguards that can be integrated into technological design.”
Wales Counsel General Jeremy Miles said the Thomas commission identified opportunities to strengthen the legal sector in Wales.
He added the new lab would help “discover the potential of emerging technologies such as machine reading techniques and AI, and enabling Welsh government, legal professionals, professional bodies and academia in Wales to work in partnership to develop and promote the technological capabilities of the legal sector.
“EU funds continue to play a vital part in modernising our economy, increasing productivity, and developing employment and business opportunities, and I look forward to seeing how far legal technology can help promote access to justice for the citizens of Wale