Pinsent Masons’ Orlando Conetta Joins Lord Chief Justice’s AI Advisory Group

Orlando Conetta, who is Head of SmartDelivery at international law firm Pinsent Masons, has joined the esteemed ranks of the newly created Lord Chief Justice’s AI Advisory Group in the UK.

The new group is designed to ‘make sure the Judiciary of England and Wales is fully informed about developments in AI’. It will focus on:

  • the likely impact of developments in AI on the Judiciary and the court system;
  • ways of ensuring that judges are sufficiently trained on AI and its impact – (which should be fun….!)
  • the most pressing legal, ethical, policy, cultural and economic effects of AI.
Orlando Conetta, Pinsent Masons

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, said: ‘It is vital that a modern Judiciary gives systematic thought to the long-term. AI is clearly one of the most important technologies of our day.’

‘So far, however, here and around the world, insufficient attention has been paid by judges to its impact on the work of the courts. Our new group should remedy this gap. I am grateful to them for bringing their considerable combined knowledge to the task.’

And, as one would hope and expect, Richard Susskind is in the thick of it, acting as chair. Another well-known legal tech name is Professor Katie Atkinson, who will also join the group.

Conetta is the only person in the group from a law firm, so this is quite a coup personally and for Pinsents as a firm.

While Pinsents’ work on AI may not be that well known globally, the firm has done plenty of work in the area primarily through developing its own NLP and machine learning system called TermFrame.

The full list of group members: 

Professor Katie Atkinson is Professor of Computer Science and Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool. She is a past president of the International Association for AI and Law.

Mr Justice Birss was made a Justice of the High Court (Chancery Division) in May 2013 and nominated as a judge of the Patents Court at the same time. In October 2017, he became the Chancery Supervising Judge for the Midland, Wales and Western Circuits.

Orlando Conetta is Head of SmartDelivery at Pinsent Masons. With degrees in both law and computer science, he has specialized in AI and law for his entire career, and was the developer of TermFrame, an AI process platform.

Kay Firth-Butterfield is the Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at the World Economic Forum. A former barrister, part-time judge, mediator, arbitrator, she cofounded AI-Austin, AI-Global and the Consortium for Law and Policy of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

Matthew Lavy is a barrister at 4 Pump Court, with a particular focus on technology-related disputes. He gained his doctorate in musicology from Cambridge in 2004. He is a Trustee of the Society for Computers and Law.

Lord Neuberger was the President of the UK Supreme Court from 2012 to 2017. Previously, he was Master of the Rolls (2009-2012), a Law Lord (2007-2009), and a Lord Justice of Appeal and Judge in charge of IT and modernization (2004-2007).

Lady Justice Sharp is Vice-President of the Queen’s Bench Division. She was called to the Bar in 1979 and was appointed as a Justice of the High Court in 2009. She was appointed as a Lady Justice of Appeal in 2013.

John Sorabji is Principal Legal Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice and Master of the Rolls, Acting Private Secretary to the Master of the Rolls, and a Senior Fellow at the Judicial Institute at UCL, where he has been an Honorary Professor in its Faculty of Law.

Professor Richard Susskind wrote his doctorate on AI and law at Oxford and co-developed the world’s first commercial AI system for lawyers in the 1980s. He is President of the Society for Computers and Law; and Technology Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice.

Sir Geoffrey Vos is Chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales. He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013 and was President of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary from 2015 to 2017. He is a member of the UK’s LawTech Delivery Panel. 

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