A charity breakfast taking place in London on 25th March will seek to better understand the painpoints in the Access to Justice landscape along with the scale of the problem, and then challenge the LegalTech community to help do something about it.

Spearheaded by BamLegal’s Catherine Bamford, the event is a starting point through which the LegalTech community can better understand where the problems lie, before moving on to consider how LegalTech could help.

When we asked Catherine why she was helping to put on this event and what she hoped would come out of it, she explained:

“I now volunteer with The Personal Support Unit (the PSU). They are an incredible charity that provide support to those facing court alone. Before I started volunteering, like many in the legal profession, I thought I knew plenty about the UK’s access to justice challenges. I was wrong. I have been shocked and upset by the scale of the problems and how some basic needs are not being met. Legal professionals working at the frontline of our justice system are also struggling to cope with the cracks in the system and the incredible pressure they are being put under, the amount they do for free is staggering and they should all be applauded.

I am hoping this breakfast will help highlight the true state of play around access to justice in the UK to those working in the ‘shinier office side of law’ like me– whether in legal tech, knowledge management, process improvement, data science or even traditional fee-earning, if you are interested in learning more about how you might help please come along! Everyone is welcome to join in.

I am massively aware that we are not going to solve anything at a 2-hour breakfast event but we will highlight the issues so that those in the audience can meet people they can collaborate with, understand the problems and start thinking about solutions.”

The morning event is being held at the Law Society between 8.30am – 10.30am on Monday 25th March and features participants from a range of backgrounds already, including:

• Lord Michael Briggs, Deputy Head of Civil Justice of England and Wales & Author of the Briggs Review
• Sophie Walker, Just Access
• Kat Barry, Mishcon de Reya LLP (previously Citizen’s Advice Bureau)
• Maeve Lavelle, Director, Education & Community Programmes, Neota Logic Inc
• Hayley Blundell, Assistant Manager at the Personal Support Unit
• Catherine Bamford, Legal Engineer, BamLegal
• Richard Tromans, Founder of Artificial Lawyer

Tickets cost just £35 and include breakfast – which in London is basically the cost of breakfast anyway! You can find out more or book your place through the PSU website.