Watch out ILTA, there’s a new legal tech association in town: The UKLTA (UK legal tech association) launched last week at the inaugural Legal Technology North Conference (LTNC), with over fifteen members joining the ranks by Friday 23 November, including Mischon de Reya, DWF and Addleshaw Goddard.
The association aims to improve access to legal services through better use of technology by “fostering a collaborative community where legal professionals, technology providers and consumers of legal services can come together in order to help shape the future of legal services delivery.” UKLTA members will come together through demo days, collaborative groups and legal technology education.
Matt Pennington (pictured), managing director of Tonic Works and co-founder of the UKLTA said: “We founded the UKLTA in order to create a space where law firms, tech companies and other players in the legal sector could come together and help shape how the future of legal services delivery will look”. Pennington was the driving force behind the LTNC, which had 150 delegates, 70 students, and 30 different technology providers – a great turnout for a first event.
Pennington added: “Earlier in the year I had a great conversation with Stevie Ghiassi of ALTA (Australian Legal Technology Association), and heard about the success they have had by forming their community and the engagement their demo days have received. I hope that through the UKLTA we can replicate some of that success for the UK market”.
When asked about how UKLTA fits with the other associations out there, Pennington said: “The UKLTA is not a trade association, we are interested in being inclusive to anyone who wants to move the delivery of legal services in the UK forward through better use of technology. Our door is open to all – be it law firms, tech companies, regulators, interest groups, government agencies, trade associations or individuals who want to make a difference”.
UKLTA, which is co-founded by Harvey Harding, managing director of PM Property Lawyers, intends to form a number of collaborative groups to improve delivery of legal services – each group focussing on a specific challenge or area of law. The groups currently under formation are Conveyancing, Litigation and Dispute Resolution and Private Client Legal Services.
Applications to join the UKLTA are now open, with membership rates available from the website www.uklta.org.uk.