Global Developments in Legal Tech and the Pivotal Role of Digital Innovation: Legislative and Governmental Responses in Germany

This paper introduces the state of legal tech development in Germany and outlines the country’s regulatory framework for legal tech. Following a conceptual clarification, the paper examines various legal tech applications used in private law as well as in public law by administrative and law enforcement authorities. It then explores the regulatory framework governing legal tech in Germany, which is largely shaped by EU law and supplemented by national regulations. Overall, the analysis reveals that Germany and the European Union tend to regulate legal tech in a sector-specific manner, aiming to anticipate technological developments through legal norms. In the final section, the paper compares this approach to South Korea’s “principle of adopting technology first and regulating later,” highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each model and exploring how both countries can learn from one another in shaping legal tech regulation.