ULSTER University has launched a new Legal Innovation Centre, which will be at the forefront of advancing the use of technology-driven innovation in legal services and legal education globally.
The Centre, a collaboration between the School of Law and the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems, is the first of its kind in the UK.
It has been established with support from leading global law firms Allen & Overy and Baker McKenzie, both of which have established bases in Belfast in recent years. The Centre has also received sponsorship from Invest Northern Ireland.
Speaking at the launch, Ulster University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paddy Nixon, said: “There is a growing recognition of the crucial and ever-expanding role of technology in law. The Centre will undertake much-needed research on technological innovations to facilitate legal process improvement, and so promote greater economic efficiency and improved access to justice.
“The Centre will also enable those interested in LawTech, whether legal professionals, law students or others, to study the technological transformation of legal practice, and the implications of this change. In this way it will foster the emergence of legal technologists, ready for the challenges of legal service provision in the information age.
“The legal sector is immensely important to our economy and in recent years Northern Ireland has attracted significant investment from several global law firms which has created a hub of legal expertise with a focus on innovation.
This new Centre will underpin the strength of our legal sector and further enhance Ulster University’s global reputation for law and computer science research excellence.”
The Centre will be led by three Ulster University academics: Professor Eugene Mc-Namee (Law) Professor Kevin Curran (Computer Science) and Centre Director, Dr Catrina Denvir and will give students and lawyers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with different types of legal technology software provided by the University’s academic partners, Clio and Caselines.