- £1.5 million investment for LawtechUK to reinforce UK’s global advantage
- Hundreds of businesses boosted thanks to Government’s Plan for Change
- New funding to drive economic growth and create new jobs
Greater use of AI and technology in legal services will spur economic growth thanks to a new Government investment as part of the Plan for Change today (12 March 2025).
The £1.5m funding boost announced by Justice Minister Sarah Sackman will help further the UK’s leading position in the international legal services market.
In a speech to legal professionals she announced the LawtechUK programme will receive a £1.5m investment which will help startups to attract further private investment.
Since 2023, LawtechUK has directly supported over 176 startups to grow and the legal services sector is now estimated to provide over 300,000 jobs in the UK. Their activity connects businesses with investors, builds relationships between technology companies and law firms, and offers showcasing opportunities at key international and domestic events.
One recent example is Lexverify which created an advanced AI tool that helps saves lawyers time and money by providing real-time risk prevention for legal, compliance, and cybersecurity issues.
Courts and Legal Services Minister, Sarah Sackman KC MP, said:
Lawtech is making legal services faster, more efficient, and more accessible. It is transforming how we work, and opening justice up to more people, at lower costs.
This isn’t just a win for law firms, or even the prestige of our legal services sector. Lawtech is also a powerhouse for the UK economy.
Lawtech UK is a government-backed initiative to drive digital transformation in the legal services industry, which is already worth £37 billion to the UK economy every year.
Since 2019, £6 million has been invested in the programme, supporting the lawtech sector’s rapid growth as it attracts record private investment of over £139 million and transforms how legal services are delivered. Another LawTechUK beneficiary, Office and Dragons, developed software that eliminates wasted time on repetitive legal tasks, achieving over 85%-time savings on administrative work.
Over half of the participants in LawtechUK’s education programmes come from outside London and the South-East, ensuring the benefits of legal technology reach across the country.
The Ministry of Justice also delivers the GREAT Legal Services campaign which promotes the strength of UK legal services and the UK as a legal centre to the global market.
The campaign showcases UK lawtech companies internationally and helps build relationships with potential business partners. It has taken delegations of UK firms to take part in events in the US, Australia and Singapore, and will be returning to the US later this month for a programme of activity around the Legalweek conference in New York and Chicago.
Since April 1, 2023, LawTechUK has been delivered by CodeBase and Legal Geek.
Jon Hope, SVP at CodeBase, said:
Building on the success of the past two years, we are excited to extend LawtechUK into its third year.
Together with our delivery partners, Legal Geek, we remain committed to driving innovation and transformation in the legal industry.
We are proud of the impact LawtechUK has already made and look forward to continuing to shape the future of the legal sector.
Beth Fellner, Director at Legal Geek, said:
Legal Geek and our delivery partner, CodeBase, have delivered a high impact programme of activity over the last two years.
We are ready to build on this work during a third year and continue to drive digital transformation in the legal sector across the UK.
