Mixed reality for law firms

Yesterday, a team from Slaughter and May visited Microsoft's offices to explore ways in which mixed reality could be applied in a legal setting. 

The Microsoft Hololens is a headset which allows the user to interact with people, places and objects from both the physical and digital worlds at the same time.

Businesses in a wide range of industries such as manufacturing, retail, healthcare and education are already embracing this technology so it is important that their advisers understand how it works. 

For more information on practical use cases for mixed reality,  please read my earlier post here.

Tools like Hololens can provide real-world context for lawyers in respect of their clients' projects. When working on large infrastructure projects, for example, lawyers could visit the site without having to leave their office. When drafting contracts for the supply of technical equipment, rather than reviewing diagrams and drawings, lawyers could see a digital twin of the equipment and interact with it to ensure they have a good understanding of how it works. 

And, as remote working becomes more popular, mixed reality makes true collaboration possible from anywhere around the world. We saw how the Hololens could be used to hold virtual meetings with avatars that mimic real life facial expressions, collaborating on virtual whiteboards and sharing files.

With all of the tech giants investing heavily in this technology it is clear that it is only a matter of time before we see it being used in workplaces around the world.

To find out more about virtual, augmented and mixed reality, see my colleague Victoria Hine's article on "Blending the Physical and Virtual Worlds"