A tool to help lawtech pioneers cope with the complexities of legal services regulation will be the next output of LawtechUK, the government-backed initiative to help transform the UK legal sector through technology. The regulatory navigation tool, to be released next week, takes a UK-wide approach and 'demonstrates that despite different regulatory regimes, lawtechs and regulators can work cohesively across the different jurisdictions of the UK', the project organisers said yesterday. 

The Tech Nation trade body announced the initiative as it celebrated what it said is the success of the pilot stage of the first Lawtech Sandbox. Over a three-month trial, five lawtech ventures used the sandbox - modeled on a previous initiative in financial services - to test their innovations. A second phase of the sandbox will begin in the summer. 

Jenifer Swallow, LawtechUK director, said: 'The success of the pilot has been fantastic to see, playing a crucial role in the development of several early stage scale-ups and demonstrating the value and knock on effects of the burgeoning lawtech sector.  As we saw with fintech, the sandbox has the potential to propel lawtech into the mainstream - that is an incredibly exciting future many can help to build.'

One of the participating startups, ClauseMatch, said the sandbox helped it understand the regulatory ecosystem. 'What was the most unique about it is that it provided us with a great opportunity to work with multiple regulators and have them come together at the round table all "in one room", all at one time simultaneously, something that we were not able to do before,' said Anastasia Dokuchaeva, head of product.

The 12 regulators taking part in the sandbox include the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and the Information Commissioner's Office. Swallow called on them to be a 'role model' for technological employment.