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TechLaw.Fest 2025: Redefining Legal in the Digital Age

Reading time: 11 minutes

Written by Josh Lee Kok Thong and Elizabeth Thomas

To all but perhaps the most casual tech observer, the annual TechLaw.Fest conference is now a staple of Singapore’s law and technology events calendar. (Even if people do sometimes bungle the name – if one were given a dollar for every variant of “TechLaw.Fest” out there, one could buy himself a nice lunch). Few people, however, can recall the conference’s humbler roots: it first began as the “International Conference on Electronic Litigation” in 2011, and only evolved into the TechLaw.Fest we know (and love) in 2015. 

Nevertheless, over its past 10 iterations, TechLaw.Fest has built a name for delving into two simple but complex notions: novelty (what is new or just over the horizon) and foreseeability (what new impacts can we foresee on the world of law and technology). Thematically, the 10th edition of TechLaw.Fest opens perhaps a third dimension – one of re-definition – as TechLaw.Fest 2025 called upon delegates to “redefine legal in the digital age”. 

Every year, it is LawTech.Asia’s privilege to be selected as Media Partner to TechLaw.Fest. In this article, as the legal community gears up once more for TechLaw.Fest 2026 season (expected to be in a few months), we seek to re-capture the highlights of “Asia’s premier forum on all things concerning law and technology”, and bring our readers once more the insights, energy and imagination of TechLaw.Fest 2025. 

TechLaw.Fest 2025 Quick Chats: Commissioner John Edwards, Information Commissioner, United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office

Reading time: 8 minutes

Written by Elizabeth Thomas and Josh Lee Kok Thong

TechLaw.Fest 2025 (“TLF”) took place from 10 to 11 September 2025, bringing together participants from around the world to engage in leading-edge conversations at the intersection of law, technology, and business. This year, LawTech.Asia had the unique privilege of interviewing John Edwards, Information Commissioner at the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“UK ICO”). Commissioner Edwards also delivered a keynote address on the second day of TechLaw.Fest 2025, titled “Trust as Infrastructure: Can Regulation Be the Foundation for Responsible Innovation?”.

Drawing from his distinguished career in public service and private practice, Commissioner Edwards offered valuable perspectives on a range of pressing issues, including the regulation of emerging technologies, the geopolitical dimensions of artificial intelligence, and the evolving role of legal professionals in a rapidly changing landscape. Our discussion focused on the future of AI governance, cross-border legal complexities, and the pivotal contribution of young legal minds to shaping the future of law and technology.

LawTech.Asia: Media Partner for TechLaw.Fest 2025!

Reading time: 2 minutes

For law, technology and policy aficionados, it’s that time of the year again. TechLaw.Fest is back!

Now in its 10th edition, TechLaw.Fest 2025 – themed “Reimagining Legal in the Digital Age” – will be taking place on 10 and 11 September 2025 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. As the focal point once more for leading thinkers, leaders and pioneers in law and technology, Asia’s premier law and technology conference is expected to draw over 2,000 attendees from over 40 countries.

TechLaw.Fest 2023: This Is What’s Next

Reading time: 12 minutes

Written by Hannah Loo Yuet Ying and Leong Tzi An (Zaine) | Edited by Josh Lee Kok Thong

The theme of this year’s TechLaw.Fest is ‘This is What’s Next”’. I thought this is very apt in the realm of law and technology. Both are forward-looking, and multi-faceted that we constantly, even in practice, ask ourselves ‘what’s next’.

Second Minister for Law and Minister for Community, Culture and Youth Edwin Tong S.C.
Opening Remarks at TechLaw.Fest 2023

Introduction

Since the last edition of TechLaw.Fest in 2022, technology has developed at a rapid pace. It is now trite to say that technology touches every aspect of our lives. It has transformed, and continues to transform, how people work, interact and, play. This is not only embodied in the rise of large language models (“LLMs”) and generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, but also questions about the future of cryptocurrency, immersive technologies, and online safety. Amidst rapid technological developments on multiple fronts, it is important to have robust conversations on the workings of these technologies and their impact – positive or negative – on people and society. 

As one of Asia’s largest law and technology conferences, TechLaw.Fest is an important forum bringing together industry leaders, government, legal professionals, technologists, academics, and civil society to have these robust conversations. As the first fully physical rendition of the event since 2019, TechLaw.Fest 2023 brought together thought leaders from various domains to answer “what’s next” in the vast field of law and technology. This article aims to bring a glimpse into the key insights and themes discussed across both days of Singapore’s signature law and technology conference.

An Interview with Professor David B. Wilkins, Lester Kissel Professor of Law, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, Faculty Director of the Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Reading time: 9 minutes

Written by Josh Lee Kok Thong

On 3 and 4 August 2023, the Singapore Academy of Law (“SAL”), in conjunction with the Singapore Management University (“SMU”), organized a conference titled “The Next Frontier in Lawyering: From ESG to GPT”. The conference provided participants with an overview of latest trends in the legal industry, and how these trends posed opportunities and challenges for lawyers and legal professionals. Held at the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law (“SMUYPHSOL”), the conference saw hundreds of attendees learn from global and local legal industry leaders about cutting-edge developments in the legal industry.

One of these global leaders and giants was Professor David B. Wilkins. As Lester Kissel Professor of Law, Vice Dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, and Faculty Director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, Professor Wilkins is a prominent thought leader and speaker on the future of the legal profession, disruptive innovation, and legal industry leadership. He has written over 80 articles on the legal profession in leading scholarly journals and the popular press, and teaches several courses at Harvard Law School such as The Legal Profession, and Challenges of a General Counsel. 

At the conference, Professor Wilkins delivered a keynote address titled “From “Law’s Empire” to “Integrated Solutions”: How Globalization, Technology, and Organizational Change Are Opening “New Frontiers” for Lawyers, Clients and Society”. His address covered how law is becoming a more collaborative enterprise (with other knowledge domains) in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. While law would remain a domain driven by human capital, Professor Wilkins also urged lawyers to learn how to work with and understand technology. At the conference, Professor Wilkins also moderated a discussion on “Technology and the Legal Profession”, which explored how new technologies are transforming how lawyers work and interact with clients. 

Following his keynote address, LawTech.Asia (“LTA”) had the valuable opportunity of chatting with Professor Wilkins on his views on the opportunities and impact of technology on the legal industry, the training of future lawyers, how Singapore could strengthen its legal innovation ecosystem, and how legal technology could be better oriented to serve the underserved and under-represented in society. The interview, which is set out below, has only been edited for readability and brevity. 

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