Session 4 - Technology and Access to Justice

Synopsis of the Talk

Most discussions on technology and the law relate to the delivery of legal services, the impact on legal businesses, or regulatory concerns. This session explores the bigger picture of technology’s potential impact on our legal systems as a whole and focuses on the future role of lawyers as we become more dependent on technology in almost every aspect of our lives. How might the introduction of powerful and complex technologies such as AI, Big Data, 5G and the internet of things impact our legal system, fundamental rights, and the rule of law? How can the ‘disruptive’ power of technology pose a challenge as much as a tool to enhance access to justice? In times of political instability and change, lawyers have always been at the front line in defending our legal systems and upholding the rule of law. Technology, as a disruptive force, also has the potential to bring about great change and instability and arguably, it is the lawyer’s duty to play the same role here.


About the Speaker

Ms Hannah LIM Jue Yi
Head of Rule of Law and Emerging Markets, Southeast Asia
LexisNexis Legal & Professional

  Hannah aims to position LexisNexis as a leader in the advancement of the rule of law and to build meaningful partnerships with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors as well as international organizations. She identifies areas where LexisNexis can support the rule of law in Southeast Asia. Prior to this, Hannah worked as a corporate lawyer in Myanmar, developing the Myanmar legal practice of two Singapore law firms. She is qualified in both Singapore and New York, with a Juris Doctor and a Masters in Asia Pacific Policy Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Panellists

Mr Rajesh SREENIVASAN
Head, Technology, Media & Telecommunications
Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP

 

Rajesh Sreenivasan heads the TMT Practice at Rajah & Tann and has been advising clients on matters relating to technology, cybersecurity, data protection, telecommunications, electronic commerce, cloud computing, digital forensics and social media for over twenty years.

His clients include state governments and multinational corporations in the telecommunications, social media, computer hardware and software sectors, government linked companies and statutory boards. On the regional front, Rajesh has been engaged by the ASEAN Secretariat to facilitate a pan-ASEAN forum on legislative and regulatory reforms to collectively address convergence of IT, telecoms and broadcasting across all 10 members countries and by the Commonwealth Secretariat to co-lead an e-government capacity building exercise involving all member Caribbean nations.  Rajesh has also been engaged by the World Bank and the United Nations on numerous mandates including on digital identity policy and regulations in countries as diverse as Nigeria, Guinea and Ivory Coast.  Rajesh is also the contributing author for the Singapore Chapter of Sweet & Maxwell’s Data Protection Laws of the World since 2010. On the corporate front, he sits on the Board of MediaCorp, Singapore’s national broadcaster. He has been unanimously cited as an industry leading lawyer in the TMT sector in Singapore by all major legal ranking agencies for over 2 decades. In 2018, he co-founded Rajah & Tann Technologies Pte Ltd, the corporate arm of Rajah & Tann Asia that provides market leading tech-enabled legal solutions to clients.

Rajesh is unanimously named as a Leading Lawyer for TMT in publications such as Chambers Asia Pacific and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific since 2008. According to Chambers Asia Pacific (2018), Rajesh is “highly prized by multinational technology companies for his expertise in data protection, telecoms regulation and cybersecurity.” He has been further recognised as a Market-leading lawyer for IT, Telco & Media by Asialaw Profiles (2019).

Rajesh was first recognised by Best Lawyers in Singapore in 2008, and has been consistently regarded by his peers through to the 2019 edition. He has been named the 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” for Information Technology Law in Singapore by the same publication as well.

Rajesh has also been ranked as one of the world’s leading practitioners for Data in Who’s Who Legal (2019) and listed as a leading lawyer in International Who’s Who of Telecommunications Lawyers by Global Competition Review and the International Financial Law Review IT and Telecoms Survey. An international panel of lawyers selected Rajesh to be listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media and Telecoms Lawyers, a Euromoney Legal expert guides publication. He has been cited in the Top 10 Standout Legal Sector Innovators List by Financial Times’ 2018 Asia Pacific Innovative Lawyers report.

 

TAN Ken Hwee
Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer (Judiciary),
Supreme Court of SIngapore

 

As Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer (Judiciary) at the Supreme Court, Ken Hwee is in charge of the transformation, digitalisation, innovation and technology plans of the Judiciary. He will seek to further improve the systems that we already have, and deploy relevant cutting-edge systems to keep the Courts, and the legal profession, at the forefront of legal technology. Ken Hwee has been heavily involved in technology initiatives in Singapore since the mid-1990s.

Before this deployment, Ken Hwee was the Chief Prosecutor of the (then) Financial and Technology Crime Division (FTCD) of the Attorney-General's Chambers. FTCD handled white-collar cases in Singapore, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, corruption, cybercrime, money-laundering and terrorism financing, and Securities and Futures Act and Companies Act offences. FTCD also made use of AI-assisted evidence review technology. When he was at AGC, Ken Hwee was also personally involved in major initiatives including the introduction of video recorded interviews for certain offences, and deferred prosecution agreements.

 

 

LIM Tanguy
Chief Executive Officer,
Law Society Pro Bono Services

  Tanguy Lim is the Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society Pro Bono Services (LSPBS) charity and Institution of Public Character. LSPBS was established by the Law Society of Singapore to implement its vision for the provision of pro bono legal services in Singapore. Besides administering a spectrum of legal literacy, advice and representation programmes for individuals and non-profit organisations, LSPBS actively promotes a vibrant and dynamic culture of volunteering among the legal community in Singapore. Prior to joining the Law Society in 2007, to set up the precursor to LSPBS, the Pro Bono Services Office, Tanguy was a practicing lawyer.