Lakiklinikka.fi online service under the KIRA-digi Project offers legal advice to projects that promote digitalisation in the real estate and construction sector free of charge. Information is also collected on statutes that may complicate the digitalisation process. Lakiklinikka.fi service is provided by Lexia Attorneys Ltd.

Quite a unique experiment has been started in the Finnish central government as the Ministry of the Environment aims to develop legislation through a new kind of service concept. Lakiklinikka.fi collects feedback especially from those affected by the legislation.

What this means in practice is that those implementing the projects are asked whether they have encountered legal problems, what they were like, and how they were solved. The service offers legal advice as well.

“We wanted to try a new, more agile way of developing legislation, and got the idea of combining advisory service with legislative work. The advisory service attracts more users as it brings concrete benefits to those who ask questions. The more questions and legal problems we have in the advisory service, the better picture the Ministry will gain of the provisions that may complicate digitalisation. The model is now being tested for the first time, and feedback will be most welcome. We encourage everybody to use the service”, says Jaana Junnila, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of the Environment.

Open access to data – Lakiklinikka.fi summarises the state of playAll results of the advisory service and surveys are published on the Lakiklinikka.fi website. The questions to be published will be anonymous so that those who asked them cannot be identified. Everybody has access to open data – including various kinds of companies offering digital services.

Lakiklinikka.fi service for operators in real estate and construction business is constantly updated and supplement by data collected from the advisory service. Lakiklinikka.fi collects, classifies and analyses legal problems of the clients according to criteria such as topic and complexity.

“The task of a legal professional today is to serve as the client’s strategic partner. This is why the project is a unique opportunity for us to think about and analyse problems that come up and to promote the development of the real estate and construction business together with various stakeholders”, says Aleksi Lundén, Associate responsible for jurisprudence at Lexia Attorneys.

Lakiklinikka.fi also offers a platform for discussion and sharing information and expert views on legal matters. The project will continue until the end of 2018.

KIRA-digi support already to more than a hundred projectsThe Ministry of the Environment is preparing legislative amendments that will support digitalisation in the real estate and construction sectors as part of the Government’s key project. The KIRA-digi Project, which will continue until the end of 2018, looks for digital solutions to facilitate day-to-day operations in the real estate and construction sectors.

So far funding under the KIRA-digi Project has been granted to 104 experiments. A culture of experimentation is a key element in the Government’s key projects, which is also strongly reflected in the projects that have received KIRA-digi funding.

Experiences are collected from all experimental projects in order to construct a comprehensive picture of the most relevant legislative problems associated with digitalisation.

Indeed, this is a good way to make relevant legislation to the digitalisation problems.