Digitalisation and AI: The borders of the revolution - the principles and the rules

Lucinda Orr
Enyo Law LLP, London
lucinda.orr@enyolaw.com

Report from the IBA Annual Litigation Forum 2025: The future of litigation

Thursday 10 April

Session Chairs

Stefano Modenesi DLA Piper, Milan; Secretary, IBA EU Judicial Cooperation Subcommittee
Lucinda Orr Enyo Law LLP, London; Digitalisation and AI Officer, IBA Litigation Committee

Speakers

Wendy Lin WongPartnership, Singapore
Pietro Ortolani Radboud University, Nijmegen
Robert Schwinger Norton Rose Fulbright, New York
Brigitta Varadinek lindenpartners, Berlin

The Litigation Committee Conference held in Singapore in April was themed as ‘Digitalisation and AI’. The opening session looked at ‘Borders of the revolution – the principles and the rules’.  

Stefano Modenesi from DLA Piper in Milan and Lucinda Orr of Enyo Law in London co-chaired the session, with contributions from Dr Pietro Ortolani from Radboud University in Nijmegen in the Netherlands; Bob Schwinger from Norton Rose Fulbright’s New York office; Brigitta Varadinek from lindenpartners in Berlin; and Wendy Lin from the WongPartnership in Singapore. 

Dr Ortolani started with a context setting presentation on the rules and principles of AI, and discussion of the new EU AI Act. He discussed the problems of a definition of AI, the distinction between different types of rules and regulations at a supernational, international and industry level. Stefano Modenesi then addressed law firms’ AI policies and guidelines for lawyers and local Italian Bar rules. 
Meanwhile, Lucinda Orr, as the Litigation Committee’s AI and Digitalisation Officer, went on to discuss the ethical concerns regarding AI in litigation from the spectre of bias, the opacity of the systems, through to data security and accountability. Bob Schwinger looked at jurisdictional issues and conflicts of law, and with his Norton Rose Fulbright Deputy General Counsel hat on, clients veto or, conversely, insistence on use of AI! Brigitta Varadinek then gave a presentation with a practical example of assisting clients draw up AI guidelines, with a case study from the group of German Savings Bank. Last, but not least, Wendy Lin discussed how courts in Singapore were dealing with the rise of AI.  

The panel was thus a veritable smorgasbord, covering countries and continents as regulators, law societies and associations, law firms and lawyers, all grapple with the fast-moving nature of AI, and how principles and borders can be implemented and shifted. Both educational and entertaining, the session was a great scene-setter to kick off a highly enjoyable conference!