It has taken two public inquiries – Bloody Sunday and Hutton – to kickstart the use of technology in the British courtroom. Sure, the UK’s litigators have been using Live Note court reporting technology for years but to be honest, as far as courtroom IT is concerned (excepting a handful of complex fraud trials where the Inland Revenue has used trial presentation systems), that is basically that.
But this year things seem to be on the move. Litigators and technologists who just last year were expressing their irritation with what they considered a snail’s pace of innovation, are now brimming over with enthusiasm. A number of large City firms sent representatives to the Legal Tech exhibition in New York on fact finding missions. Their goal was to get as much information as possible about electronic discovery, electronic presentation of evidence and litigation-support technology. Clearly, the market expects things to move.
