Woolf appoints IT expert to inquiry

MASONS partner Richard Susskind, who is visiting professor to the Centre for Law, Computers and Technology at Strathclyde University, has been appointed as IT consultant to Lord Woolf's inquiry into the civil justice system.

Susskind, who is also past chair of the Society for Computers & Law, hopes to identify ways in which Lord Woolf's findings can be supplemented by IT. He says: "I want also to help explain IT's potential for the re-engineering of existing processes."

Lord Woolf is keen to ensure courts benefit fully from the possibilities offered by information technology.

He says: "I have no doubt of the relevance of IT to the development of a new civil justice system. I am very pleased to have Dr Susskind's assistance, particularly because of his considerable experience in this area."

Neil Cameron, joint chair of the Society for Computers & Law, says of Susskind: "He has been the unofficial adviser to the inquiry for a while. I hope it means they will take his advice into consideration when developing a policy for the use of IT in the courts. As far as I am concerned they couldn't have picked a better person."