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19 June 2015 / Mark Surguy , Rob Jones , Tracey Stretton
Issue: 7657 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Looking ahead

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2015 and beyond: are lawyers impervious to change? Mark Surguy & Rob Jones share their thoughts with Tracey Stretton

A lawyer speaking recently on the future of law at Harvard with leading business and legal thinkers observed that the legal profession has proved uniquely impervious to change (“At Harvard Law, Talk of Disruptive Innovation”). Will that change? If your whole life is recorded, as is looking increasingly likely, perhaps all you will ever need to resolve a legal dispute is a search tool capable of working across multiple media formats, a screen for looking at the results, and someone with experience helping with your analysis.

Perhaps we are already there. The Irish High Court in the first ruling of its kind in Europe has approved the use of predictive coding (a form of artificial intelligence) in the document disclosure process ( Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Ltd & ors v Quinn & ors [2015] IEHC 175). The judge stated that in the disclosure of large data sets, technology assisted review

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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