As we move towards the end of February, many of us will be getting reminders for renewals of our SCL membership. Until some years ago, the SCL had a single membership year of 1st April to end March. Many of us remain on that membership cycle, even though the SCL moved to “rolling” membership year depending on the date of joining the SCL some years ago.
The mention of ‘renewal’ made me look again at what we do and what the SCL can hope to do with renewed commitment in 2015. After all, if we are asking you for renewal, it seems reasonable to do a bit of renewing on our part too.
I am proud of the content you will find on the SCL web site and the many ‘members-only’ articles that give real insight into the practice of IT law. I think they pay for the cost of membership on their own. In addition, we are already engaged in a wide-ranging re-design of our web site and later in 2015 we will see a real increase in its functional value to members – this will go well beyond renewal. We are trying to bring the web-site up- to-date in a way that will make it much easier for members to interact with the SCL and with each other. The contracts for the work have been signed and the SCL Trustees are excited about the potential improvements.
I am told that our brilliant magazine will be looking to update its look later in the year too. I know many of you greatly value the slick paper version but you should not overlook the epub version that can be downloaded from the web site by SCL members. The link to the most recent edition is {here: http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ep-40465}. The epub version often has extra material and is ideal for quick and easy access to the magazine content.
The events side of SCL has been so successful lately that you may think it scarcely needs renewal but the key to that success is the constant attention paid to the need to provide material that is relevant to a fast-changing area like ours. Those of you who find it difficult to attend events should bear in mind that many are recorded and made available to SCL members in podcasts within days of the actual event. You can get online CPD too – free to SCL members – whether based on the content of a podcast or a magazine.
Probably the top priority in my personal renewed commitment is the support we give to those starting out in IT law, whether as students, trainees or new entrants from other fields. Our scheme for free membership for trainee lawyers shows how seriously we take this. We look to those in training to contribute ideas so that we can tailor our offerings to their needs. We are actively exploring building on the IT Law Foundations course, through offering an SCL Diploma which will run alongside the Foundations course when it starts again in the Autumn.
One final plea: of course I want you to renew your subscription to SCL. But I would also like to hear from more of our established members with suggestions and offers of involvement in our work. It may be a bit late for new resolutions – think of it as a renewal of an old one!
