The Law and Technology Committee continued to meet on a two monthly basis.

It continued in its role in monitoring and reporting on a number of areas in the technology field, including:

Circulation of Unreported Judgments
While some progress has been made in this area, the Committee authored an article on the topic and raised concerns as to the manner in which judgments are made available to members of the profession and the wider public. In particular, concerns were raised that judgments are not published in full electronic form and that access is difficult given that it is buried away on the Ministry of Justice website. The Committee will continue to monitor and comment on this issue.

Records Management Guidelines
In 2006 the Committee published a checklist covering document management and file retention. This was well received by practitioners. Given the need for businesses/practitioners to produce and maintain reliable and accurate records that are acceptable for
legal, audit and other purposes a set of draft records management guidelines were prepared.

These will be completed and published in 2008. The guidelines will include helpful links, and will be posted on the ADLS website.

Liaison with Courts Committee
The Committee continued to liaise and cooperate with the Courts Committee and to share information, particularly in relation to e-filing. A regime has also been put in place for the minutes of the two committees to be exchanged so that they can better coordinate their activities.

New Legislative Developments
Members of the Committee were kept abreast of developments in relation to “Spam”. Rick Shera published an article on practical implications for practitioners. This was published in both Law News and Law Talk. Laura O’Gorman presented a seminar on the topic. The Committee also monitored and discussed the various proposed changes to the Copyright Act in relation to digital issues