Home | Surrey ALAJ Festival and Summer School

Understanding Technology’s Role in Advancing Legal Services

Welcome to the AI, Law and Access to Justice Festival and Summer School 2025

The festival aims to position itself at the forefront of AI, Law and Access to Justice. It spans over three days, offering a range of roundtables and seminars.

We bring together scholars, lawyers and civil service professionals to explore and shape the future of legal services. Through a series of seminars and panels, we will focus on leveraging AI to enhance access to justice while also upskilling the current generation of lawyers to navigate and thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape. Through collaboration and innovation, we aim to ensure that the legal field is prepared to meet the needs of tomorrow’s society.

Attendees have the flexibility to choose to attend three days or to purchase tickets for individual days.

Day 1, features two roundtables with expert panels and three seminars, including a special session on Large Language Models in law.

Day 2, join us for two roundtables with expert panels, three seminars, and an exciting hackathon. Don't miss out on these engaging discussions and hands-on experiences.

Grab your half day tickets on Day 3 to join us for two panels and a great networking opportunity with participants from over 15 international law firms, including magic circle and silver circle firms.

We believe collaboration fosters the best discussions, which is why we’re offering plenty of opportunities for networking, including dinners, barbecues, and informal sessions to connect with others who share your interests at this in-person event.

Meet your Speakers and Tutors

Prof. Miklos Orban

OPL gunnercooke

Miklos is a bi-qualified lawyer with 25 years of experience at the intersection of law and technology, specializing in AI. He co-founded OPL (now OPL gunnercooke) and a regulatory and legal tech consultancy, and serves as gunnercooke’s CTO, leading its tech and AI activities. Miklos has extensive experience in both private practice and corporate roles, including as Director of Regulation at BT. He is the developer of many AI solutions for lawyers, and he teaches and researches law and technology at the University of Surrey as a Visiting Professor of Law.

Prof. Akber Datoo

D2 Legal Technology

Akber is dual qualified as both a technologist and capital markets lawyer. He is the founder and CEO of D2LT, advising leading financial institutions, regulators and trade associations at the intersection of FinTech and LegalTech. He has led D2LT's growth across the UK, US, and Asia, leading key engagements to produce industry legal agreement data standards for ISDA and ICMA. Akber co-chairs the Law Society’s Technology and Law Committee and has authored practitioner texts on legal data, smart contracts, and AI/digital transformation. He teaches Cyberlaw, AI & Ethics and Financial Services Regulation & Fintech Policy at the University of Surrey.

1st July 2025