Global law firm Clyde & Co has today announced that it is a founding partner of Barclays' new law-tech Eagle Lab incubator.
Clyde & Co is one of a group of law firms, along with the likes of The Law Society, UCL and the University of Liverpool, who are backing the new venture. The incubator has launched in order to boost the UK's law-tech sector by helping companies start-up and scale up, and become international leaders in their field – matching the UK's reputation as a leader in the legal services sector.
Clyde & Co will provide feedback and guidance to the law-tech businesses as they develop, test and refine their products.
The law-tech Eagle Lab in Notting Hill, London, will be a centre of excellence providing co-working space and support for 100 individuals, as well as hosting sector-focused events and meet ups.
Richard Elks, Partner at Clyde & Co and lead partner for the initiative, comments: "We are very pleased to be founding partners of this initiative, which will help the next generation of legal innovators with their product development. We look forward to being part of an initiative that will help cement the UK's position at the forefront of the legal services industry for years to come."
Nadine Bairle, Senior Strategy Manager at Clyde & Co and lead business manager for the initiative, comments: "Legal technology and innovation is a burgeoning area of focus for law firms and law-tech start-ups. With the support of Clyde & Co and the other founding partners, the law-tech Eagle Lab will play a major role in the development of this market. One of our key goals in the Lab is to collaborate with the law-tech start-ups and to help them gain a fuller understanding of how the legal industry works, thereby increasing their prospects of success."
Ashok Vaswani, Chief Executive of Barclays UK, comments: "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 law-tech Eagle Lab is the latest in a growing network of 15 Labs set up by Barclays to help start-up and scale up businesses to create, innovate and grow. Eagle Labs originally converted under-utilised bank spaces to create thriving ecosystems at the heart of their community. They have developed into a UK-wide network, partnering with organisations that share Barclays' vision to empower businesses and communities to drive the UK economy. Many of the Labs have a specific industry focus on technology areas such as artificial intelligence and home automation.
This partnership is part of Clyde & Co's focus on technology and innovation, led by the firm's Innovation Board. In September 2017 the firm launched Clyde Code, an innovative new consultancy to advise insurers on all aspects of the burgeoning new area of smart contracts, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. In November 2017 the firm launched its Data Analytics Lab, which uses data analysis supplemented with machine learning tools to explore workflow efficiencies as well as products and services for clients.
Lawyers from the firm supported start-ups in Startupbootcamp InsurTech London's 2017 cohort and in February 2017 and November 2017, the firm partnered with the UCL Construction Blockchain Consortium and the insurtech initiative Insurlab Germany respectively. In 2018, the firm became the Official Legal Partner of the Hartford InsurTech Hub.