A grant of up to £3.62 million is available for the contractor to take over the seven-year-old programme to nurture law tech developments, the Ministry of Justice has announced. A central aim of the investment is to spread the benefits of technology more widely. 

LawtechUK, set up in 2019, aims to support innovation in legal services by accelerating the development and adoption of digital technology. 'It also supports the government’s ambition to maintain the UK’s position as a world-leading legal centre by promoting innovation, improving access to legal services and strengthening the international competitiveness of English and Welsh law,' the MoJ said. As well as nurturing technology start-ups its activities include supporting the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce, chaired by the master of the rolls. 

The programme's current phase, run by contractors Legal Geek and CodeBase, had been due to end in March but received a six-month extension earlier this year when the government announced £4.5m of new funding. Phase three of the programme, for which 'up to £3.62m' is available, will run from November 2026 to March 2029.

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The tender announcement states that there is no expectation that bidders will continue or replicate existing activities. 'We welcome fresh thinking and innovative approaches to delivering the objectives.' It notes that the lawtech sector has changed dramatically since 2019 thanks to massive investments in AI. 'As a result, the lawtech ecosystem is increasingly shaped by organisations with access to significant capital, technical expertise and computing resources.'

According to the announcement, the government is 'particularly interested in how this programme can help ensure that the benefits of technological change are shared more widely'. This includes supporting smaller legal service providers while helping to improve access to legal services and reduce unmet legal need.

The competition to run the programme is open to applications from UK-based registered entities or consortia. Individual people are not eligible. Applications close at midnight on 26 August and the successful bidder will be notified in October.