Barclays has launched a legal technology hub in London, backed by a raft of major law firms including Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Simmons & Simmons.

The bank has also received backing from the Law Society for the hub in Notting Hill Gate, which will provide co-working space for up to 100 individuals working on innovative legal technology projects.

The hub – or 'Eagle Lab', as all the bank's similar UK hubs are known – will target law-tech startups and scale-up businesses projecting at least 20% growth.

Barclays staff will also provide on-site advice for entrepreneurs on areas including business and personal finance.

Partnering law firms – which also include Baker McKenzie, Clyde & Co, DWF, Gowling WLG, Norton Rose Fulbright, TLT and Latham & Watkins – will provide feedback and guidance to help entrepreneurs develop, test and refine their products, with the potential to implement new technology into their firms.

Barclays UK general counsel Stephanie Pagni said: "This initiative will help trigger a transformation in law-tech with significant potential, addressing not just commercial but also societal legal problems, and drawing on the expertise of data scientists, engineers and a range of other graduates and contributors from our university partners."

Law Society vice-president Christina Blacklaws added: "As new technologies continue to be developed, they are changing the way solicitors and their clients approach legal issues. This collaboration will create a forum for solicitors to learn and innovate with entrepreneurs and developers for the common good of the legal sector. We encourage all our members to get involved."

The lab will also receive academic support fom UCL and The University of Liverpool, which specialise in artificial intelligence and law-tech, while startup community Legal Geek will organise community events.

The Notting Hill lab is the bank's first dedicated centre for legal technology entrepreneurs. It is also Barclays' 15th Eagle Lab, which are all based around the UK, including in Cambridge, Bournemouth and Edinburgh.

The latest move follows the launch of the bank's first London fintech incubator known as 'Rise', which relocated last year to Shoreditch after opening originally as an experiment in Whitechapel.

Barclays first announced plans to open the labs in 2016, originally using underutilised spaces in its branches and offices. The Eagle Labs comprise both hubs that target technology entreprenurs, like the Notting Hill lab, and 'MakerSpaces', which offer access to 3D printers and laser cutters, providing business with access to tools to produce and test prototypes without having to import from overseas.

In 2016 Barclays set up a new legal innovation panel, with Ashurst and Simmons & Simmons among those winning places. The bank selected six firms to work with on innovative projects based on four key criteria: their use of legal project managers, collaboration with other law firms or other services providers, sophistication around pricing arrangements, and thought leadership.

However, earlier this year the bank announced that its current global panel review would be its last ever conventional adviser review as it moves to a new system described as "active relationship management", with firms added or removed from the panel on an ad hoc basis.