The UB, one of the founding entities of Global LegalTech Hub
The University of Barcelona is one of the founding entities of the new Global LegalTech Hub, a global hub which gathers juridical operators from all fields of law -institutions, companies, law firms, and start-ups- that apply new information technologies in the law field. The objective is to show and promote digital transformation in the legal field, in which, for instance, artificial intelligence is already applied for the analysis of corpus, and the electronic signature has been generalized, and applications are used to create legal documents. In addition, there are sophisticated platforms linked to the electronic commerce and conflict resolution, among other examples.
The University of Barcelona is one of the founding entities of the new Global LegalTech Hub, a global hub which gathers juridical operators from all fields of law -institutions, companies, law firms, and start-ups- that apply new information technologies in the law field. The objective is to show and promote digital transformation in the legal field, in which, for instance, artificial intelligence is already applied for the analysis of corpus, and the electronic signature has been generalized, and applications are used to create legal documents. In addition, there are sophisticated platforms linked to the electronic commerce and conflict resolution, among other examples.
“This hub will promote the use of information and communication technologies at the service of legal professions”, says Elena Lauroba, lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the UB. “Today -she continues-, the vertiginous irruption of ICT makes us think again, and more if we want to avoid a gap between experts and jurists, which would only disfavor us”. According to what Lauroba highlights, we need “communication and cooperation pathways to provide a better response to the challenges generated by new tools, also when it comes to protection of citizensʼ fundamental rights”. The Global LegalTech Hub aims to create a place where start-ups can co-exist with known companies and institutions.
The university will provide the hub with knowledge on rights and other disciplines. The participation of the UB in the new hub will make knowledge transfer accessible to society and this will positively affect on the legal research and teaching of the University.
Some of the participants in the hub, apart from the UB, are Pompeu Fabra University; PIMEC (small and medium-sized companies of Catalonia), law practices such as Cuatrecasas, Roca Junyent, Deloitte Legal, Across Legal, ETL, Jané Advocats and Cirial 180; companies like Banco Sabadell, VLex Networks, Alterwork, Red Points, Bigle Legal, Validated ID, Signaturit and Pridatect. The association was constituted in the Barcelona Bar Association on February 17, which played a privileged role in the development of the initiative.
The participation of the UB in the Global LegalTech Hub joins the will of leadership in this field and has other initiatives in mind -which have emerged in European countries, such as the Nordic Legal Tech, in which the University of Copenhagen plays a distinguished role, and the Amsterdam Law Hub, whose facilities are in the University of Amsterdam and where start-ups and social entities as well as research initiatives co-exist.