Hello and welcome to the June edition of the Dye & Durham Docket!
The World Cup is underway across North America, bringing familiar questions of margins, rules, and interpretation into focus on the pitch.
Off the pitch, the legal world is grappling with similar questions across jurisdictions: courts reassessing constitutional boundaries, regulators refining how technology should be governed, and legal systems balancing access, independence, and sustainability under changing conditions.
Let’s kick off.
What's on Our Radar
Adaptability in legal tech is shifting from adoption to control
The first phase of legal AI focused on experimentation: what tools to use, and where they fit. That phase is now giving way to something more structural: not whether AI should be used, but how it should be governed once embedded in everyday workflows.
Regulators in multiple jurisdictions are increasingly focused on transparency, risk management, and accountability frameworks rather than restricting specific tools.
In Canada,the federal government has released its new National AI Strategy, AI for All, setting out plans to accelerate adoption across the economy while strengthening governance, skills development, and domestic capability. The strategy frames AI as national infrastructure requiring coordinated oversight and long-term system readiness.
In the UK,no standalone AI Bill was announced in the King’s Speech. Instead, the government set out plans for a Regulating for Growth Bill, which would introduce regulatory sandboxing powers and strengthen regulators’ “growth duty” to support innovation across sectors. The direction reinforces a sector-led, incremental approach to AI governance rather than a single unified framework.
In the EU,institutions have reached a provisional agreement to delay parts of the AI Act’s implementation, including high-risk obligations. This would push standalone high-risk systems to December 2027, and AI embedded in regulated products to August 2028, although formal adoption is still pending and original timelines remain technically in place.
Across jurisdictions, AI is no longer being treated primarily as a discrete innovation category, but as part of the underlying infrastructure of legal and economic systems. Against this backdrop, the firms best positioned for the next phase are those building systems that can absorb constant change without losing control of quality or trust.
But what does “control” look like in systems that are deliberately becoming more fluid, and where does accountability ultimately sit?
Access to justice remains a structural pressure point
While technology continues to reshape legal workflows, access to justice pressures remain persistent and structural. Demand for legal assistance continues to rise while traditional funding and delivery models struggle to keep pace.
This raises a broader question for the profession: if efficiency gains from technology do not translate into improved access, what is their broader social value?
Courts continue to debate the boundaries of institutional authority
Several ongoing cases across jurisdictions reflect a shared theme: courts and legislatures are still negotiating the limits of authority in complex constitutional environments.
In Canada, the Supreme Court continues deliberations in the challenge to Quebec’s Bill 21, a case that raises questions about constitutional override mechanisms and the balance between provincial authority and rights protections.
In British Columbia, also in Canada, the Supreme Court upheld the province’s Legal Professions Act, rejecting the Law Society’s argument that transferring regulatory authority to a government-appointed body undermines the independence of the bar.
In South Africa, law firms are challenging aspects of the Legal Sector Code’s Black ownership and transformation targets, citing implementation concerns, alongside broader debates over progress on racial equity within the profession.
These cases reflect the same underlying tension:how far can systems be restructured before core principles of independence and rights protection are affected?
Adaptability is becoming a defining capability
Legal systems are not transforming in a single direction.
Instead, they are adapting unevenly, through incremental reforms, regulatory adjustments, technological adoption, and institutional redesign.
For firms and practitioners, success will be less about predicting what comes next, and more about building the capacity to respond to what arrives — even when it arrives unevenly across systems, markets, and institutions.
Together, these platforms represent a step toward a more unified operating environment for legal work, designed to reduce fragmentation across core workflows and support firms as they adapt to increasing complexity and data demands.
Related: Applications are now open for our Wills Early Adopter Program, giving firms early access to Wills, the first workflow on our new Legal Workflow Platform. Register your interest.
Dye & Durham in Action
Across our global teams, June was marked by a shared focus on connection, community, and access to justice.
Our UK team joined thousands of legal professionals for the London Legal Walk, completing the route together and raising over £1,000 in support of free legal advice services and access to justice.
Our Australia team once again hosted Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea in support of the Cancer Council Australia. Alongside plenty of baking and coffee, the initiative raised $1,530 — with Dye & Durham matching every dollar donated. This brings the total contribution to over $6,100 across the past three years, supporting cancer research, prevention, and care services.
A lighter note
Football or soccer? For or against VAR? Whatever side you fall on, the beautiful game has unexpected ways of separating teams when things get tight. Have a look at some of the oddest tie-breaking rules in World Cup history.
We’ve made a few changes in this edition based on your feedback — we’d love to hear what you think.
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