Wales: A Global Leader in LegalTech?

LegalTech is one of the key strands of the £4.95m Legal Innovation Lab Wales, which was set up by Swansea University and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). As part of this strand, the Lab has looked at supporting the development of legal innovations in Wales, underpinned by research into AI and machine learning.

To enable this activity, in early 2023 the Lab undertook a comprehensive mapping of legal innovation in Wales, which has resulted in the drafting of this new report. The Lab focused, in particular, on Welsh start-ups, examples of innovation in Welsh law firms, and legal innovation training offered by Welsh Universities, in order to fully understand the structure and dynamics of the Welsh LegalTech ecosystem, and identify key areas for innovation.

The resulting report highlights a series of key findings, followed by a concise set of recommendations, that if actioned, could transform the LegalTech sector in Wales into a world-leading initiative.

The key findings of the report are, amongst others:

• Wales is already home to an innovative set of start-ups and leading scale-ups that interact with a rich layer of companies that operate in similar sectors, in particular FinTech. These two layers of entrepreneurship demonstrate the strength of the growing LegalTech sector in Wales.
• There are clearly identifiable areas for improvement; from access to private investment, to issues in attracting talent to Wales, collaboration with local law firms, and the lack of a central LegalTech hub to bring together those already innovating in similar spaces.

As a result, the recommendations include the following:

• The need to develop awareness of the rich LegalTech ecosystem in Wales, bringing together law firms, universities, start-ups, scale-ups and a range of other relevant stakeholders.
• The Welsh LegalTech ecosystem should be recognised as its own entity, supported by a clear identity, vision, branding and market strategy.
• An up-to-date map of all components of the ecosystem should be completed and kept relevant, to help facilitate information sharing, co-operation and innovation.
• This map should support an automated referral system to support access to LegalTech providers for those in need of their services. • A centre for LegalTech needs to be established as a key hub for the ecosystem.
• The ecosystem should be characterised by inclusivity, collaboration, respect, fairness and sustainability, with the ultimate goal of improving access to justice for all.

If you’d like to read more, the full report is now available to be downloaded online.