{"title":"Community Legal Centres in the Digital Era: The Use of Digital Technologies in Queensland Community Legal Centres","authors":"Stebin Sam, Ashley Pearson","doi":"10.5204/lthj.v1i0.1305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.v1i0.1305","url":null,"abstract":"Digital technologies are revolutionising the delivery of legal services within Australia. Challenged by innovative technologies, products and processes, the legal profession has been forced to confront their technologically disrupted future and adapt to the new technological age, as both providers and clients become progressively more reliant on increasingly sophisticated digital technology. One sector that stands to reap the benefits of digital disruption is free legal service providers, such as Community Legal Centres (CLCs), whose services benefit from the extended outreach, accessibility and efficiency that digital technologies provide. As institutions that are dedicated to ensuring that vulnerable client groups have access to justice, CLCs must be cautious not to adopt digital technologies without due thought and, consequently, potentially alienate vulnerable clients. In this new technological era, it is now more crucial than ever for CLCs to ensure that clients who may lack access to technology, are digitally illiterate, or prefer face-to-face interactions, are catered for within the CLC sector. \u0000This paper addresses the use of technology by Queensland CLCs by drawing on data collected from semi-structured, qualitative interviews with 10 employees from eight different CLCs. The article asserts that Queensland CLCs preferred to adopt digital technologies that assisted with their organisational needs over client-oriented services, attempting to strike the delicate balance between technological convenience and technological inaccessibility.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127248423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In Machines We Trust: Are Robo-Advisers More Trustworthy Than Human Financial Advisers?","authors":"Hui Chia","doi":"10.5204/lthj.v1i0.1261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.v1i0.1261","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, specifically, to create financial robo-advisers. These machines have the potential to be perfectly honest fiduciaries, acting in their client’s best interests without conflicting self-interest or greed, unlike their human counterparts. However, the application of AI technology to create financial robo-advisers is not without risk. This article will focus on the unique risks posed by deep learning technology. One of the main fears regarding deep learning is that it is a “black box”, its decision-making process is opaque and not open to scrutiny even by the people who developed it. This poses a significant challenge to financial regulators, whom would not be able to examine the underlying rationale and rules of the robo-adviser to determine its safety for public use. \u0000The rise of deep learning has been met with calls for ‘explainability’ of how deep learning agents make their decisions. This paper argues that greater explainability can be achieved by describing the ‘personality’ of deep learning robo-advisers, and further proposes a framework for describing the parameters of the deep learning model using concepts that can be readily understood by people without technical expertise. This regards whether the robo-adviser is ‘greedy’, ‘selfish’ or ‘prudent’. Greater understanding will enable regulators and consumers to better judge the safety and suitability of deep learning financial robo-advisers.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127513683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards the Uberisation of Legal Practice","authors":"M. Thornton","doi":"10.5204/LTHJ.V1I1.1277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/LTHJ.V1I1.1277","url":null,"abstract":"Uber and Airbnb signify new ways of working and doing business by facilitating direct access to providers through new digitalised platforms. The gig economy is also beginning to percolate into legal practice through what is colloquially known as NewLaw. Eschewing plush offices, permanent staff and the rigidity of time billing, NewLaw offers cheaper services to clients in order to compete more effectively with traditional law firms. For individual lawyers, autonomy, flexibility, a balanced life, wellbeing and even happiness are claimed to be the benefits. The downside appears to be that NewLaw favours senior and experienced lawyers while disproportionately impacting on recent graduates. This article draws on interviews with lawyers in Australian and English NewLaw firms in order to evaluate the pros and cons of NewLaw.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127756776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}