Susskind + Katz To Speak at Access to Justice & Technology Summit

On the 17 June, you’ll get the rare opportunity to attend an event on access to justice at DLA Piper’s offices in London and see both Richard Susskind and Dan Katz speak on the same day. You’ll also get a chance to see Dan Linna and Margaret Hagen at this global event that has drawn top speakers on technology and justice from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

And, it’s all for a good and vital cause, as DLA explains with regard to the Access to Justice and Technology Summit below.

‘Technology is reshaping our lives by bringing new possibilities: chatbots helping people get access to government housing, dispute an airline charge, resolve problems with landlords; apps helping domestic violence victims call the police, ask for an ambulance, find a place to stay and launch a claim with one click; online courts making it accessible for people to launch small claims from their couch. All these new developments will eventually make justice faster, cheaper, more transparent and finally fully accessible for everyone.

Access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law and underpins the full and free enjoyment of all other rights. While technology has fundamentally reshaped our lives and the way we access information and services, access to justice remains an inaccessible or protracted process for many. In order to examine the possibilities that technology may provide to improve access to justice around the world, and to find innovative and workable solutions so that people in need have access to effective remedies, regardless of ability to pay, DLA Piper and PILnet (The Global Network for Public Interest Law) are hosting the Access to Justice & Technology Summit (A2J & Tech Summit) on 17 June 2019 in London.

The Summit will bring together pro bono providers, government and UN officials, tech industry experts, funding providers, futurists, academia, civil society, human rights defenders and social entrepreneurs. Through interactive workshops, dynamic discussion sessions and interviews, participants will have the time and space to think together on novel technology solutions to access to justice challenges on a global scale utilizing a framework of four pillars:

The Digital Divide: Economic and social inequality in access to technologies is causing a digital divide. Is access to justice using technology a remote possibility for them?

Legal Empowerment: How can technology increase people’s ability to understand and make use of the law?

Justice Actors: How do legal aid lawyers, boards, pro bono lawyers, bar associations, government legal aid providers, etc., use technology to improve their impact and reach more people?

Access to legal processes and courts: How can technology not only break down the barriers and provide open access to dispute resolution for all but also innovate in the justice system?

At this Summit, participants will work collectively to:

  • identify problems in the area of access to justice;
  • discuss what technological solutions can be proposed to tackle them;
  • identify how to remove the barriers to implement projects; and
  • identify opportunities to make use of the novel technology to improve legal aid and the provision of pro bono legal services.

The A2J & Tech Summit will also provide an opportunity for breaking down the barriers between the legal community, tech community, funders and investors. It aims to provide opportunities to make connections and discuss novel solutions by bringing together sectors of society which do not usually have a chance to collaborate. The A2J & Tech Summit is chaired by an advisory committee and core project partners. Prior to the Summit, the committee will issue a report on the state of play of technology and access to justice in order to facilitate a forward-looking discussion.

The Summit features speakers from all over the world including Richard Susskind (IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales), Professor Dan Katz (Illinois Tech, Chicago Kent Law), and: Margaret Hagan (Director of the Legal Design Lab, Stanford University), Dame Hazel Genn (Dean of the Faculty of Laws and Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at University College London), Shannon Salter (Chair of the Civil Resolution Tribunal in British Columbia),Lance Bartholomeusz (Principal Legal Adviser, Head of Legal Affairs Service at UNHCR), Jim Sandman (President of the Legal Services Corporation, USA), Professor Tanina Rostain (Georgetown University Law Center), Matthew Stubenberg (Associate Director of Legal Technology, Harvard A2J Tech Law), Vincent Richardson (International CTO, Tech for Social Impact, Microsoft Philanthropies), Fiona McLeay (CEO and Commissioner at Legal Services Board in Australia), Erika Rickard (Senior Officer, Civil Legal System Modernization, The Pew Charitable Trust), plus, Dan Linna, (Visiting Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law).’

and……

……they’ve even invited Artificial Lawyer’s Founder, Richard Tromans, along to speak/chair for the following session:

‘Non-judicial/private remedies: the benefits of building dispute resolution from the ground up’, which will feature James Walker, Founder and CEO, Resolver; and Matt Vickers, CEO and Chief Ombudsman at Ombudsman Services.

This particular session will be about how we can use legal tech and digital platforms to help people resolve disputes without necessarily having to go to court. This is not about replacing the courts, but rather finding pre-emptive means, supported with a solid dose of technology, to help people not have to go to court in the first place. This in turn widens access to justice and also takes the strain away from a nation’s court service.

However, there is just one catch if you’d like to attend what looks set to be one of the top A2JTech get-togethers of the year……this is an invitation-only event.

To request an invitation, please send an email to ozgur.kahale@dlapiper.com and cross your fingers. Good luck, it will be quite an event.