Barclays partners with the Law Society to launch new law-tech incubator in London
The initiative is being backed by major law firms including Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Simmons & Simmons.
Barclays bank has announced the launch of a new incubator in partnership with the Law Society to help scale up startup businesses in the law-tech sector.
The law-tech incubator will open soon at Barclays’ Notting Hill-based Eagle Labs, where successful applicants will get access to a 100-seat co-working space, as well as mentoring and workshops.
Together with the Law Society, Legal Geek and partnering firms, Barclays? aim is to make the UK a world leader in law-tech, helping companies start up and scale up in the field.
Commenting on the programme, Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of Barclays UK, said: Law-tech is an area where the UK has every reason to be a world leader. It is home to some of the greatest law firms in the world and we want to help build on the success of its legal sector, and play a leading role in transforming law-tech in the future.
the impressive range of partners supporting this initiative shows just how important this is. Our Eagle Labs are supporting thriving new businesses up and down the country, and our Notting Hill lab will lead the way as an industry centre of excellence for law-tech.
The new incubator will be supported by a dedicated ecosystem manager and Barclays? colleagues who will provide on-site advice for entrepreneurs on areas including business and personal finance, as well as connections into Barclays? international networks.
Partnering law firms will provide feedback and guidance to help entrepreneurs develop, test and refine their products, with the potential to implement new technology into their firms.
Commenting on the Law Society’s involvement with Barclays, vice president Christina Blacklaws, said: As new technologies continue to be developed, they are changing the way solicitors and their clients approach legal issues.
law-tech is an important area of focus for us as we seek to help solicitors and law firms keep pace with evolving client expectations. We want to ensure the profession is promoting and adopting new ideas and technologies to provide the best possible service to their clients.
this collaboration will create a forum for solicitors to learn and innovate with entrepreneurs and developers for the common good of the legal sector. We encourage all our members to get involved.
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Carly Hacon is a reporter for Business Advice. She has a BA in journalism from Kingston University, and has previously worked as a features editor for a local newspaper.
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