CLC among regulators joining government AI Growth Lab

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The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is set to join the government’s AI Growth Lab, an advisory sandbox aimed at supporting the development of AI products by helping organisations navigate existing regulatory frameworks.

Legal services will be the first sector to engage with the initiative, according to the CLC, reflecting growing demand from industry stakeholders for clearer and more coordinated regulatory guidance on AI. The move follows evidence gathered by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The AI Growth Lab will bring together several other regulators, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Legal Services Board.

The programme aims to provide greater clarity for innovators, support responsible development and improve access to legal services by enabling faster and more affordable delivery, while maintaining standards. Applications for AI innovators will open later in the summer, with eligibility extending to LawTech companies, legal service providers and conveyancing firms.

Chair of CLC’s Technology and Innovation Working Group, Milton James, said: “I believe the Legal Sector AI Growth Lab has the potential to accelerate innovation and drive growth across the UK legal sector, and I am delighted that the CLC, as a forward-thinking, pro-innovation regulator, is helping to shape and deliver this important pilot.” 

The development has been welcomed by Juno Legal and Farringdon, both CLC-regulated practices.

Juno Legal CEO Etienne Pollard commented: “This is a great example of how the CLC enables safe, responsible and pro-consumer innovation in the regulated legal sector. We look forward to engaging with the AI Growth Lab.” 

Meanwhile, Farringdon chief operating officer Sue Bence said: "The AI Growth Lab is a genuinely important step for the UK legal sector. As an AI-native law firm, we know first-hand that the most exciting opportunities to improve client outcomes often sit at the edges of existing regulatory frameworks – and that what innovators need most is a route to test those ideas safely, with their regulator alongside them.

“The CLC has been exactly that kind of partner for us as we prepared to launch Farringdon: clear-eyed about consumer protection, but genuinely curious about what new technology can do for clients and the wider home buying and selling industry.”