The two-day event focused on AI and emerging legal tech
The Singapore Academy of Law and the Embassy of France in Singapore have teamed up to organise another France-Singapore symposium on law and business – this time focused on legal tech cooperation at a time when artificial intelligence is on the rise.
“Singapore and France have in recent years stepped up our legal cooperation to support our lawyers amid the flourishing of business and trade between the two countries,” said Singapore Academy of Law CEO Yeong Zee Kin. “The third France-Singapore symposium on law and business underscores our commitment to further strengthen our coordination and cooperation at a time when the lightning speed of technological changes is presenting both opportunities and threats to the legal profession as well as to businesses.”
Yeong led a 35-strong delegation from Singapore to the symposium, a two-day event held from May 11 to May 12 at the Grand Amphitheatre de La Sorbonne and Maison du Barreau in Paris. Policy-makers, legal practitioners, and scholars from both countries gathered to discuss data protection laws in Europe and Singapore, share insights on how advanced technology was transforming the legal landscape, and identify areas of opportunity and challenges uniquely presented by AI.
The symposium was led with presentations from legal tech accelerator Paris Bar Incubator, France Invest, and the French Ministry of Finance, who shared their strategies for investing in legal tech and ways to support innovation. These were followed by panel discussions over the different legal issues surrounding the use of artificial intelligence, with the end goal of establishing a cohesive legal framework for the deployment and development of generative AI tech informed by French and Singaporean regulation and policy.
At the end of the symposium, the Singapore Academy of Law hosted a networking event for its TechLaw.Fest 2023 at Dentons' Paris office, bridging the Singaporean delegates to French lawyers and tech executives and allowing them to explore potential collaborations in the field of law and technology.
“France and Singapore have been developing a strong partnership in the field of law and science, and this third symposium is the occasion to celebrate it by discussing common research projects, current challenges in data protection law, as well as exciting developments in the field of artificial intelligence,” said Stéphane Braconnier, president of Paris-Panthéon-Assas University.
The event was supported by the French Ministry of Justice, the Paris Bar, Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, Court of Cassation, Paris City of Law, and the Asian Business Law Institute. Among the distinguished experts who spoke at the symposium were guest of honour Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, French Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Law, Rahayu Mahzam, First President of the Court of Cassation Christophe Soulard, president of the Paris bar Julie Couturier, and Singapore’s Ministry of Law Deputy Secretary Calvin Phua.
