28 March 2014

The Law Society of Scotland’s Technology Sub-Committee has reappointed bto partner and Solicitor Advocate Paul Motion to be its Convener for a further three year period.

Mr Motion is one of the longest-serving Law Society committee conveners, having taken up the post in May 2000. Commenting on his reappointment, Mr Motion said “It is a sobering thought that I have chaired this Committee since it was known as the E-Commerce Committee, from a period before the Data Protection Act and virtually all modern e-commerce legislation was enacted.”

“I am very grateful to the Committee members for giving me the opportunity to continue our increasingly important work. There are many technology challenges facing the profession, ranging from an increasing client awareness of data security, digital fraud or ‘cyber crime’ as it is sometimes called, widespread use of personal mobile devices and free solutions such as Skype for client business, as well as draconian court reforms where it is absolutely essential that practitioners have a voice in the selection of technology solutions. For example, we are aware of one Sheriff Court where apparently the use of iPads has been banned and we are already addressing this. Major changes are also on the horizon in Europe, for example the Find-A-Lawyer FAL1 and FAL2 database projects for verifying lawyers' identity in e-justice, which virtually no Scottish solicitors seem to know about. The Committee intends to publish regular articles on all these matters and intends to set up a Twitter feed so that technology developments can be communicated to the profession quickly. Whatever else the next three years bring, they are unlikely to be dull on the technology front”.