Shenzhen, the southern mainland city home to the pillars of the country’s strategic high-tech sector, has been increasingly gaining favour from China’s policymakers, and international law firms have begun to take notice.

Technology is a great equaliser. Legal technology is no exception and enables law firms of different sizes and specialisations to handle client relationships, legal research effectively, keep track of cases, better accounting, contract drafting etc. In the recent past legal tech solutions have been backed by artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT (internet of things), cloud services etc., to offer legal services promptly and efficiently tackle regulatory compliances.

As the legal industry embraces technology at a rapid pace, Singapore’s government is encouraging firms to get up to speed in the hope that it will offer lawyers an advantage in the long run. And firms are responding by devising their own tech strategies.

ALB Hot Startups is a series that looks at the most promising new legal-tech companies in Asia. We look at LawGuide, which educates consumers with basic law-related information, and recently launched Singapore’s first law-related chatbot. By Raj Gunashekar