Adopting the latest technology is imperative if the island's law firms and Bermuda as a jurisdiction are to meet client expectations, the head of Walkers has said.

Kevin Taylor, the managing partner and head of the insolvency and dispute resolution group at the firm, said offshore law firms often take instructions from firms onshore.

“Pick your city — from London, from New York, from Hong Kong, from Singapore. Wherever it might be.

“If we here, or in any offshore jurisdiction, are unable to assure our clients and particularly those onshore firms that trust us to handle the Bermuda aspect of a critical matter for those people, they will very shortly not use either our firm.

“I don't want to be too existential about it, but we're competing with other offshore jurisdictions. If we can't get there as a jurisdiction, they will start looking elsewhere.

“From a client perspective, it's absolutely crucial. If we don't get there, we are going to be pushed hard with two hands.”

Mr Taylor was speaking on the panel “The Law Practice” at the Bench, Bar and Business in the Digital Age conference at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, organised by the Bermuda Bar Association.

He was joined on the panel by John Wasty, partner and practice group head of dispute resolution at Appleby, Christian Luthi, director in the Bermuda disputes resolution practice and chairman at Conyers, Katie Tornari, managing director at Marshall, Diel & Myers, and Michael Hanson, group managing partner at Carey Olsen. Dwayne Caines moderated the discussion.

Ms Tornari said: “I read somewhere that artificial intelligence will not replace the lawyers, but those lawyers who use AI will replace those who do not.”

She added: “As lawyers and in this industry, we need to keep technology at the forefront of our businesses. We need to be mindful. We need to drive it forward. We need to do all we can to ensure that people want to do business in Bermuda. I think that is really important.”

Mr Hanson said: “If you look at Bermuda as a jurisdiction, there are various touch points that clients have.

“They have a touch point with their lawyers. They have a touch point with the court. They have a touch point with the regulator. They have a touch point with immigration.

“All of those touch points in Bermuda are not consistent so far as how technology is applied and where.”

He added: “Just taking immigration as an example, you can walk from the plane to your car in Singapore in about 14 minutes and not speak to a single person as a visitor to the island because of the way the technology operates on the immigration side; facial recognition, etc.

“That is what people who use these jurisdictions are seeing everywhere and if we don't integrate our entire look and our product as a Bermuda island, one aspect could be great, but all of the aspects have to follow.”