Those involved in advising in the context of systems and outsourcing disputes can find a lot of inspiration in the cases coming out of the Technology and Construction Court – even when those cases deal with purely construction matters. Many IT lawyers remain unaware of them, and this article from Richard Stevens is intended to highlight one aspect of a supplier’s (or service provider’s) duty: the so-called duty to warn….
Although originally drafted at the start of the year (as a result of research into law firm IT) the relevance of this article by Alistair Morrison has recently been confirmed by the publication of a Law Society investigation into ITC in small to medium-sized firms. (Research Study 46 – see www.research.lawsociety.org.uk.) The Society’s report, like this paper, highlights problems facing such firms. This article additionally suggests some potential avenues of relief. Most practitioners and commentators now accept that IT is not an optional extra, and may indeed hold the only route to future profitability. The purpose of this article is to suggest a way in which the necessity which is IT can be made less awkward for small law firms….
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Jon Vogler looks at leading texts which help with building a Web site….
John C. Buyers, a Director in KLegal’s London Technology Department, examins the legal effect of haphazard changes which take place in the real world to the carefully crafted contracts which underpin outsourcing. He also indicates the best approach to avoiding such disasters….
Read More… from Changing your Outsourcing Deal Midstream – the Perils and the Pitfalls
Richard Harrison examines the role of technology and the legal profession in Dracula’s English ventures….
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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Outsourcing is of major importance commercially, and especially important in the IT sector. Outsourcing as a business practice has grown rapidly over the last decade. Bill Jones of Wragge & Co considers current trends in outsourcing from a legal perspective….
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Fiona Ghosh explains how the UK’s web of e-commerce regulations continues to grow….
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….
Read More… from SAM v Hedley’s: The TCC answers the Court of Appeal in Watford Electronics
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?…
Read More… from The Knowledge Management of External Content