As you may have read last week Laurence Eastham has hung up his boots to concentrate on a richly deserved retirement.
The regular production of Computers & Law and, increasingly important in his tenure, the curation of scl.org and the @computersandlaw Twitter feed are demanding tasks but Laurence made them look easy. Every two months the new issue would land in post rooms and on door mats around the country, the quality of its contents far outstripping the resources at his disposal.
As his successor I thank him for his efforts in building such an impressive resource and curse him for giving me such a hard act to follow.
So you may ask who am I and what’s my plan? I’m David Chaplin, an experienced legal publisher who has worked with the SCL on and off for nearly as long as Laurence was Editor. Under my stewardship, I will endeavour to maintain the standards he set.
Our website will remain a source of record, reporting the latest cases, legislative changes and industry news so you can turn to the site whenever you need to know what is going on in tech law.
Both the website and the magazine will continue to bring you the latest thinking and analysis from our contributors and correspondents. Any ideas for articles or other contributions are welcome so please email them to me via david.chaplin@scl.org
Yet I also want the SCL content to evolve. There will be some, I hope, exciting changes in both approach and presentation to be announced over the next few months as and when they come on stream and I’m pleased to highlight two of them today.
Firstly, if you want to keep up to date via email may I point you towards our SCL Daily Digest email. This runs alongside our weekly members’ email and is freely available to all – whether or not you are a member. The email has been running for a few months but has now been beefed up so that it links to useful techlaw news from elsewhere on the web as well as the latest content published on scl.org, making it an essential source of current awareness for all tech lawyers. Sign up here – you will receive an email each day that fresh content is featured – and tell your contacts and clients to sign up as well.
Secondly, I am introducing a Letters to the Editor feature (though please send them by email!). This may strike you as rather anachronistic in the era of online comments and social media networks, but I hope that it will give every reader the chance to respond to what’s been published, what we have missed or to start debates of your own motion, all in a way that encourages thoughtful debate that can be curated at leisure rather than moderated in haste. Writing a Letter can also be less daunting than sitting down to write an article so I hope that it will make it easier for all to contribute to the SCL output. Selected Letters will be published on the site, on occasion featured in Computers & Law and I’ll use them as inspiration for a regular Letters from the Editor as well. So get writing and send your thoughts to letters@scl.org.
Finally I must add that I am honoured to take on this role and will strive to build on what the SCL has created over the years. At least if you feel that I’m straying from what’s required you can always write to me and let me know.
David Chaplin, SCL Editor
