Smart Legal Opinions: Reimagining Legal Advice for a Digital World

In an increasingly digital legal landscape, how should legal opinions be researched, authored, and relied upon? Smart Legal Opinions will convene leading thinkers from practice, academia, and industry to examine the future of opinion-giving – covering topics such as enforceability of close-out netting under capital markets master trading agreements (e.g. ISDA) and personal property rights in digital assets.

Flyer promoting Smart Legal Opinions symposium, 19 November 2025

Date: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Venue: Level39, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London
Host: Surrey Law School, University of Surrey

Why attend

Explore how code, data standards, and formal methods can enhance the rigour and reliability of legal opinions.
Hear first-hand from the architects of today’s capital markets documentation and digital asset reforms.
Engage with practical use cases where law and technology must align.

Speakers include:

Jeffrey Golden KC (Hon) – Principal author of ISDA’s master agreements; former founding partner of the US law practice at Allen & Overy LLP and senior partner in the firm’s global derivatives practice; Chairman Emeritus, P.R.I.M.E. Finance (The Hague).
Professor Sarah Green – Legal scholar, reformer, and digital-assets expert; arbitrator specialising in digital assets disputes; member of UK Jurisdictional Taskforce and International Jurisdictional Taskforce; renowned for her role as Law Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law and contributions to the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 and the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill; Professor of Private Law, University of Bristol.
Professor Bob Kowalski – Emeritus Professor, Imperial College London; recipient of the 2012 JSPS Award for Eminent Scientists and co-recipient of the inaugural 2022 Stanford CodeX Prize for applying logic programming to the formalisation and analysis of the British Nationality Act.
Professor in Practice Akber Datoo – Technologist and lawyer; led foundational clause-taxonomy and library work with ISDA, ISLA and ICMA that informed the Common Domain Model; Co-Chair, Technology and Law Committee at the Law Society of England & Wales; CEO & Founder, D2 Legal Technology.
Paul Williams – PhD candidate, researching Smart Legal Opinions at the University of Surrey School of Law. He has extensive experience of working as a lawyer in the financial sector in London, most recently as a senior consultant with D2 Legal Technology.

Akber Datoo (pictured) said: “I’m thrilled to bring together brilliant minds from business, academia and the legal profession to interrogate this time-critical topic. The Surrey Law and Technology Hub is at the forefront of advancing legal practice through technology, ensuring that the ‘code is law’, 'law is code' and ‘law is law’ philosophies are examined, reconciled, and harnessed for the benefit of society and commerce.”

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