Karachi,Aug 26, 20 : Eminent lawyers among national and international experts were invited at the webinar on “The Future of Lawyers and Law firms in Pakistan – Legal Tech, Big Data & Online Courts.” It was organized recently by the Entrepreneurship and Management Excellence Center (EMEC), Institute of Business Management (IoBM), Karachi in collaboration with Continuing Legal Education Institute of Pakistan (CLEIP) and The Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), USA.

During the opening dialogue, Mr. John Dickerson, Senior Attorney, CLDP, USA said that legal practitioners need to focus on continuing legal practice. He advised lawyers to not stick to what they have been practicing but to evolve according to the needs of the changing times where technology is playing an instrumental role. The panelists of this webinar were Barrister Nausheen Ahmed, General Counsel, Company Secretary and Head of Corporate, ICI, Pakistan; Mr. Shaharyar Nashat, Company Secretary, Director Legal and Public Relations, Hub Power; Mr. Amar Naseer, Partner, AUC Law, Karachi and Lahore, and Member, Continuing Legal Education Institute of Pakistan (CLEIP); Mr. Altaf Qureshi and Mr. Sohaib Saleem, Co-Founders, wukla.com & paksign.pk.

Speaking at the webinar, Barrister Nausheen Ahmed said that enforceability of contract is the hurdle lawyers face. She explained in detail the concept of mediation and how the two parties can use it to keep their information confidential among their respective lawyers. While discussing the impact of technology on lawyers in Pakistan Mr. Amar Naseer said that artificial intelligence (AI) will offer opportunities to enhance this profession. According to Mr. Shaharyar Nashat, law schools in Pakistan need to revise the curriculum according to the stakeholders’ advice on how to incorporate technology in education. He envisioned that in the future the lawyers will focus more on analyzing data. Mr. Altaf Qureshi viewed that technology works best when the user is empowered. He said that new technologies in the legal system increased the number of lawyers and enhanced their productivity. Mr. Sohaib Saleem shared that the stakeholders must develop and implement user-friendly technology. He suggested making legal systems modern yet manageable so that legal practitioners can adopt them without hassle.