Lawyers to be researched by Australian uni professor

Lawyers to be researched by Australian uni professor
The way in which being a lawyer has evolved – and continues to do so – will be studied by an academic from a Victoria-based university.

Dr Jeremy Kingsley has been awarded the Social Science Research Council Transregional Research Junior Scholar Fellowship at Swinburne University of technology and will research what it means to be a contemporary lawyer.

He will travel to Dubai, Jakarta and Singapore as part of his study and will intern at global law firms.

“The nature of law is no longer bound by national jurisdictions but interfaces actively with international law and privatised legal spaces,” Dr Kingsley said. “Lawyers in Melbourne or Sydney can no longer consider themselves separate from their colleagues in Jakarta, Dubai and Singapore.”

Asia Pacific gains seven new A&O partners
Almost a third of the new partners in the latest promotion round at Allen & Overy are in Asia Pacific.

The global firm has promoted 24 lawyers to its partnership across the world with seven in Asia Pacific including three in Sydney, three in Hong Kong and one in Jakarta.

A third of the promotions across 11 offices in 10 countries are in the corporate practice with six in banking and four each in international capital markets and litigation.

The new Australia-based partners are Connell O’Neill (corporate), Jason Gray (litigation) and Ka Sen Wong (tax), all based in Sydney.

Michael Jacobs (corporate) Agnes Tsang (ICM) and Patrick Wong (banking) all make partner in Hong Kong (Jacobs’ promotion subject to work permit and completion of certain local regulatory formalities); while Michael Tardiff becomes a banking partner in Jakarta.

The promotions are effective 1 May 2017.

International firm weighs AI usage
Simmons & Simmons has teamed up with Neota Logic to explore ways to use artificial intelligence to deliver its legal services.

The international firm launched an innovation group last year to consider ways to accelerate new ways of delivering services and value to clients and the AI software offered by Neota Logic is being considered as part of that aim.

Jonathan Hammond, international financial markets group head and chairman of the firm’s innovation group, explained: "We know we want to focus on ideas that could change the way we work and the service we deliver to our client base. Neota Logic technology offers us new opportunities to explore how these ideas can be put into practice for our clients."