He was speaking on Wednesday at the first Legal Geek Europe conference in Amsterdam. ‘In successful projects, legal excellence goes hand in hand with good service design and well-thought-out project management.’

Over 500 professionals from across Europe came to the sold-out conference to learn about developments in legal tech and AI. Legal Geek, which has hosted conferences in the UK for many years, now wants to host an annual European networking event in the Netherlands.

About a third of the visitors work in law firms and a third are in-house lawyers in large companies. Many visitors have legal education, but then focus more on ICT. One speaker even learned to write code. The nuances of law are difficult to translate into ones and zeros, he said he had experienced it. And there are still many fellow lawyers who do not like ICT.

Some attendees expressed skepticism about the AI ​​promises often heard from both the stage and the stands. ‘We’ve been hearing for a year and a half that the AI ​​era has begun. But when does it really begin?’ Others complained about the slow performance of purchased software. “The AI ​​era has begun,” assured Nathan Hegarty, Sales Director at Thomson Reuters. ‘I waited a few years before switching from my old Nokia to my first iPhone. But AI is a skill, not an application. It takes time to develop into it. So don’t wait too long to get in.’ He predicted that AI would be widespread in the legal profession within three years.

Other speakers warned against making hasty decisions. Many projects fail or go differently than planned. ‘Buying technology is easy,’ said Jeroen Zweers of Dutch Legal Tech, ‘but changing the way the office works can be difficult.’