Good afternoon distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The very engaging panel on the State of Legal Innovation in the Asia-Pacific we just enjoyed and the publication on which it was based, had their beginnings in October last year when Paul Neo discussed with Jerrold Soh the idea of doing a stocktake of all the legal innovation and technology initiatives in Asia. 

The following month, FLIP, LawTechAsia and Legal Hackers SG co-hosted the inaugural Legal Hackers APAC Summit in SMU, at which many delegates expressed a shared desire for an international platform that could serve as a permanent forum for their countries’ legal tech communities to engage with others from the region. 

While leading legal tech centres around the world like the USA, Europe and Australia have bodies like the International Legal Technology Association (“ILTA”), European Legal Tech Association (“ELTA”) and the Australian Legal Tech Association (“ALTA”), respectively to foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing across their communities, there is no similar entity in the region, the Asia Pacific, which has the potential to become the world’s largest legal tech market. Further, it was felt that a focus on innovation of business models, structures and systems within the legal industry was just as important as on technology.

I am very heartened to learn, therefore, that when the idea for ALITA was first floated, it found immediate support from our friends in the legal tech communities of China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, the USA, Mexico and even Brazil! While the desire for the rule of law is universal, the laws of each country are deeply connected to its historical and cultural roots. I am optimistic that ALITA will enable our legal tech communities to exchange ideas that are suited to the circumstances of our region and our geographical and cultural linkages.

The establishment of ALITA would not have been possible without the passion and drive of our founding ExCo led by Mr Josh Lee, Co-Founder of LawTechAsia and Mr Lee Ji En, Chapter Organiser of Legal Hackers SG. I am also grateful to our founding Board of Advisors comprising Mr Andrew Arruda (ROSS Intelligence), Dr Mimi Zou (Oxford University), Ms Terri Mottershead (CLI - Australia Rep), Ms Komal Gupta (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas - India Rep), Pak Ahmad Fikri Assegaf (R&T Asia - Indonesia Rep), Prof Goh Yihan (SMU Law) and Mr Paul Neo (Singapore Academy of Law) for lending their time to help guide this very exciting and ground-breaking effort.

I look forward to all your active participation and support of ALITA!

Thank you.