LegalTech Summit GCC - 2019

 As we continue our mission of promoting the use of technology in the legal sector, I had the honour of attending and speaking in the LegalTech Summit GCC organised by #Forte Markets on 27/11/2019. A big thank you to Shak Ashraf for organising! An insightful day, the event explored how #technology can be used to give law firms a #competitive edge. Some of the avenues explored included new technologies such as #artificialintelligence (AI), #blockchain, #processautomation, #bigdata and #security.

To start off, H.E Sheikh Abdullah Al Majid of the Ministry of Justice addressed the #innovation goals of the UAE in the upcoming years, and its mission of ensuring the right framework is in place in order to fully allow technological advancements to flourish. On this note, we, at Legal Advice Middle East are excited to announce that we will be cooperating with the Ministry of Justice, who will be licensing our platform next year. The UAE, in general, is starting to embrace change. For instance, in Dubai #contracts can now be registered and updated online. We are proud to be mentioned in the conference as one of the early #pioneers of change in the Middle East’s exciting legal technology landscape. Stay posted for more updates!

The day also included some exceptionally talented fellow speakers, such as Mark Beer, who has been one of the early supporters of our company. Mark and I are both proponents of the idea that

“people don’t want a drill, they want a hole in the wall”

This is the same client-oriented approach which we at Legal Advice Middle East aim to foster in every step of the way. Accordingly, some of the barriers to change discussed by the participants, such as billable hours and a resistance to change in the work culture are things that we have targeted at the centre of our business structure. For instance, our company offers some fixed fees services, and the first consultation is always free. On a similar note, Hussein Hadi of #LexisNexis explored the present use and future direction of technologies. I agree that what we really need to grasp, is that change needs to be client-driven. For instance, generic legal advice which is easily commoditised is available for free on our website.

“Artificial intelligence won’t kill lawyers but lawyers that use artificial intelligence will replace those that don’t”

Mark Beer

Finally, a big thank you to all of the inspiring women on my panel, who discussed their own challenges in their career progressions. Namely, Christina Blacklaws, Diana Hamade, Allison Hosking, Marie Chowdhry and Erica Werneman Root. As a female entrepreneur bringing legal technology to a market that has been resisting change for some time, I have experienced first-hand some of the obstacles facing women in the workplace. I am a great advocate of being our own pioneers of change, and being aware of our own internal biases in recruitment. As a result, the onus is on female leaders to continue to empower other women and attempt to create opportunities to accommodate different needs. Flexibility in hours and working space, for instance, can begin to bring the change in our business culture that we need.