The impact of technology on lawyers and the provision of legal services is now a well-documented, albeit still hotly debated, topic in national and international lawyers’ gatherings. One aspect that may have been overlooked, however, is the impact that technology, and most particularly digital innovation, can have on the cross-border trade in legal services. With the ascent of digital technology, legal services will continue to cross borders more than ever. But what about the need for lawyers (or their clients), as physical persons, to have to go through airport security, face jetlag and stay in bland hotel rooms or invest a large amount of capital in swanky offices in far distant lands? Would it actually be physical persons, as opposed to bots, legal software or blockchain contracts, that cross borders effortlessly? Is it a legal service, if the ‘advice’ or ‘document’ is derived by artificial intelligence, or bundled into a smart contract? Is a border actually crossed at all if the transaction takes place in cyberspace? And how does the transaction fit into the current context and definitions of World Trade Organization law and agreements? What is the impact for bar associations and regulators, the purpose of which is to regulate the admission and ethical behaviour of individual lawyers in a specific jurisdiction? What rules do we enforce when an international team of lawyers based in multiple jurisdictions works on a contract held in the cloud? What legal professional privilege applies? What can a bar association do vis-à-vis bots located across an ocean? Does there need to be more cooperation and mutual recognition between regulators? And what about the opportunities for firms, and most particularly, smaller firms? There is no need anymore to be a large firm with strong partner capitalisation and a hard-won network of offices across the globe to provide your legal services to international clients. This session brings to light different perspectives on the challenges of the ascent of digital technology and its impact on cross-border trade.