The Impact of the Internet on the Provision of Legal Services

Technological developments are often launched amid a barrage of publicity about how they will change our lives. Many fail to live up to the initial hype. The Internet is one technological development which has fully matched (and exceeded) initial expectations. It has fundamentally altered the way in which we do business and is now a core facility used in everyday business life. Jonathan Maas looks at how the Internet has been and is being used to change the way in which legal services are provided and considers how it may change working practices in the future, how it affects lawyer/client relationships and what opportunities it offers for law firms to deliver services more effectively….

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SAM v Hedley’s: The TCC answers the Court of Appeal in Watford Electronics

Two cases have come out of the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) in recent weeks reversing what for many had seemed to be a run of success for users against IT suppliers. In particular, when it came to applying the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) to exclusions and limitations of liability, IT suppliers were prone to fare badly. This note from Richard Stephens reports on the recent case of SAM Business Systems Limited v Hedley and Company [2002] EWHC 2733 (TCC), a decision of Judge Bowsher QC. *This article will look at two principal issues in the judgment: the presence of bugs and their legal implications and limitations and exclusions of liability in the light of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977….

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The Knowledge Management of External Content

Chris Knowles of Vrisko asks whether law firms have been seriously over-investing in “Big Technology” knowledge management systems to capture, store and manage their internal knowhow. Are they neglecting systems now available, at a far lower cost, to help them gain more value from their substantial investments in tried and tested legal and business information, from publishers such as Butterworths, Sweet and Maxwell, PLC and LexisNexis?…

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