Returning from the Christmas and New Year (and snowbound) exodus I felt a distinct sense of depression around the office, with everybody glued to their laptops and avoiding any superfluous conversation. Maybe too much Christmas pudding and brandy butter (for which my mother, sadly no longer with us, had the best recipe – she once confided in me that she took a fairly standard recipe and tripled the quantity of brandy!). Maybe it is the VAT increase and uncertain economic outlook for the year.
Anyway I cheered myself up by reviewing the impressive number and quality of the 2011 predictions being collated by Laurence Eastham- see http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=bl18123
This inspired me to think that I might in this first Chair’s Blog of 2011 venture (without competing in any way with Laurence) to set out a few of my thoughts and wishes for SCL as an organisation as we boldly go forth into the New Year.
- First and foremost we want to continue to develop our community of those who are working in the arena of IT and the law – whether as lawyers or other advisers or consultants or as technology suppliers. We will evolve our services to provide more support for this community.
- Within this community we will seek to develop particular focuses for groups of our members, notably junior members and in house members.
- Across our membership we will set standards which will allow certification and accreditation of members to confirm their standing as experts in this field.
- We will contribute particularly with our Annual Lecture and the Policy Forum to the debate on important and topical current issues such as the regulation of the Internet.
- Our programme of events will set the tone for high quality and informative education and networking.
- We will continue our traditional focus not just on the law but on the technology which underpins all of our interests as it continues to evolve exponentially.
- We will extend our international reach encouraging membership from abroad and our affiliation with IFCLA.
- Our website and magazine will continue to set the highest standards for on line and hard copy material
- Our 2011 annual conference will, like the one last year, attract quality speakers and a large and participative audience.
- Our regional and special interest groups will continue to flourish and expand.
- We will continue to attract and retain new members.
Please tell me about anything I may have missed which you think we should be focusing on in 2011 by posting a comment.
For now my best wishes to all our members and supporters for an exciting and prosperous New Year.
Clive
