Welcome back to the Dye & Durham Docket. It’s April! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, spring is upon us, while our readers in Australia and South Africa are enjoying autumn — the two best seasons of the year, as far as we’re concerned! Read on for this month’s roundup of trends and developments in your neck of the woods and around the world. 

Industry news

This interesting analysis explores how to balance the breakneck pace of legal technology advancements with human involvement. 

AI is creating fake legal cases that are ending up in courtrooms and wreaking havoc, underscoring the need for lawyers to exercise due process when using AI. 

Legal research is one of the most notable categories of AI adaptation. Read more here about how lawyers need to be on alert for AI “hallucinations.”  

Here’s an interesting look at the dangers generative AI can create in terms of copyright violations. It includes important tips, including the need for companies that build generative AI models to use filtering or restrict model outputs to limit copyright infringement. 

Global news and trends

The Australian scene

Australian law firms have been accused in the past of overworking their staff. Here’s how the government’s recent right-to-disconnect legislation could help ease lawyer burnout. 

What's up in Canada?

A new survey reveals the challenges and opportunities facing Canadian lawyers in both private practice and government, and how they need to better define, measure and plan for success. Less than half of respondents said their firms track reputation and even fewer measure client satisfaction. 

The Irish market

Solicitors and barristers in Ireland are now able to form “legal partnerships” and provide legal services through them later this year. A month-long consultation into the new framework has just begun amid complaints from some barristers. 

The scene in South Africa

South Africa’s women lawyers recently called for action on equality following a report that found they remain underrepresented and face discrimination. 

What's up in the UK?

The UK’s Next 100 Years project has launched a £100,000 campaign to provide students researching women’s legal history grants, mentorship and placements in British law firms. 

Dye & Durham in action

Congratulations to Wilson Chu and Kaushil Prajapati, the skilled winners of our coding challenge at the recent Techtalent.ca Toronto job fair. Wilson and Kaushil recently visited our head office in Toronto to meet the Dye & Durham team. 

Read about how Dye & Durham Canada recently added 10 new senior account managers to our team. 

To mark International Women’s Day on March 8, we paid tribute to the amazing women on our team around the world. 

Read our David Nash’s insights on embracing change in the conveyancing sector in the UK. He writes: “The UK has a notoriously long lead time for property purchases, but adopting new technologies can help cut that time down and position the conveyancing sector as a key partner to the government in improving the property transaction process.” 

Also in the UK, read about the ongoing Unity® Global Platform road show. 

A lighter note

Fighting over the fur kids? There’s a new pro-bono Canadian clinic for pet parents that offers information and referral services to people battling over who retains the pet after a breakup. Its goal is to keep the pets’ interests front and centre. 

Want more Dye & Durham news? Follow us on LinkedIn.

Did someone share this email with you? Subscribe to our newsletter here.