Graham Smith-Bernal | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1958-01-17)January 17, 1958 (age 67) England |
| Known for | Legal software |
| Notable work | LiveNote, Opus 2 Magnum |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | The Queen's Award for Enterprise |
Graham Smith-Bernal (born 17 January 1958) is a British innovator and entrepreneur. His companies, Smith-Bernal International and Opus 2 International, created technologies which facilitated virtual and hybrid court, arbitral andpublic enquiry hearings and led to paperless trials throughout multiple global jurisdictions.[1][2][3]
Smith-Bernal grew up and went to school inSlough, Berkshire. He left school with a single‘O’ level.[4] After business college he joined the UK’s firststenography course becoming, while still a teenager, one of the UK’s first qualified court stenographers.[5] His first job was as an official court reporter in LondonCrown Courts,High Courts and arbitrations.[1][2]
In 1990, Smith-Bernal devised the interactive real-time transcription andevidence management system,LiveNote.[3][6] In 2011, he created thecloud-based collaborativesoftware platform,Opus 2 Magnum for managing evidence in major disputes andinquiries.[7][5]
Previously, in 1981, Smith-Bernal set up his first business, Smith-Bernal International (SBI), specialising in providingverbatim reporting services inlitigation,arbitration and public inquiry hearings.[8] A year later SBI was appointed as Official Court Reporter to the 11 Crown Courts atKnightsbridge and subsequently to a further 70 courts in 8 UK cities.[9] SBI pioneered the introduction of computer-aided transcription and a digital transcript management software. Each sped up transcriptions and provided lawyers with digital transcripts.[5]
In 1990 SBI’s new software division created the world’s firstWindows based real-time interactive software transcription programme,LiveNote. This enabled lawyers to annotate and search live real-time transcript testimony, reducing manual note taking performed by judges and lawyers in complex hearings.[1][5][4] Its creation saw SBI appointed to hearings including BCCI andLloyds of London disputes.[5][9] The technology was used by the defence team on theOJ Simpson trial inLos Angeles in 1995 and inLord Saville’sBloody Sunday Inquiry established in 1998 byBritish Prime Minister,Tony Blair.[4][10] After selling SBI in 1997, Smith-Bernal retained the US software business and sawLiveNote become a standard for managing deposition hearings, with more than 80% of the top 100 US law firms signed up on enterprise licenses.[2] In 2006,LiveNote was sold toThomson Reuters for an undisclosed sum.[11]
In 2011 Smith-Bernal set up Opus 2 International to develop the company’s Magnum software. This facilitated seamless collaboration between remote and in-court teams of lawyers and their clients across all case materials, transcripts and documents as well as synchronised audio and video. It was first used inthe Berezovsky v Abramovich trial in London in 2012, where it saved more than 5 million pieces of hard copy paper.[3][12][13] In 2018, for his work with Opus 2 and Magnum, Smith-Bernal received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation.[14]
Following the sale of Opus 2 in 2017,[11] Smith-Bernal boughtNewsells Park Stud - a commercialstud farm inNorth Hertfordshire breeding classic andGroup One racehorses.[15][16]
Smith-Bernal is married with three children.[2]
