Scottish Law Soc’s in-house group homes in on education

The Scottish in-house lawyer’s representative group is embarking on an ambitious and expanded programme of training for its members to meet the demands of constantly changing areas of law.

Colin Anderson, legal manager at Standard Life and president of the European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA), has revealed that the primary focus of the Scottish Law Society’s in-house lawyers’ group (ILG) this year will be education.

“We’re rolling out training on softer skills,” he explained, “including managing relationships with external lawyers, as well as a wide variety of legal disciplines. The number of events has gone up from six or seven a few years ago to around 35 this year.”

He added that the ILG had also begun to use videolink facilities more widely for its regular talks in Scotland.

“We started using the facilities for talks a few years ago for places like Aberdeen and Inverness,” he said. “And in the coming year, we’ll be looking to video at least 12 more of our talks. It’s a method of reaching out to our members in some of the more far-flung places.”