About SCL

Professor Richard Susskind is the President of the Society for Computers and Law. He is also an author, speaker, and independent adviser to major professional firms and to national governments. His main area of expertise is the future of professional service and, in particular, the way in which the IT and the Internet are changing the work of lawyers. He has worked on legal technology for over 30 years. He lectures internationally, has written many books, and advised on numerous government inquiries.

Richard lectures internationally and has been invited to speak in over 40 countries and has addressed audiences (in person and electronically), numbering more than 250,000. He has written and edited numerous books, including Expert Systems in Law (OUP, 1987), The Future of Law (OUP, 1996), Transforming the Law (OUP, 2000), The Susskind Interviews: Legal Experts in Changing Times (Sweet & Maxwell, 2005), The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services (OUP, 2008), Tomorrow’s Lawyers (2013), and has written around 150 columns for The Times. His work has been translated into 10 languages.

He has advised on many government inquiries and, since 1998, has been IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Richard is Chair of the Online Dispute Resolution Advisory Group of the Civil Justice Council, and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute where he is also a Visiting Professor. He also hold professorships at UCL, Gresham College, London, and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Richard has a first class honours degree in law from the University of Glasgow and a doctorate in law and computers from Balliol College, Oxford. He has received numerous legal industry awards and is an Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the British Computer Society, and was awarded an OBE in the Millennium New Year’s Honours List for services to IT in the Law and to the Administration of Justice.

Richard’s long assocation with SCL is as follows:

• SCL Chairman from 1990 to 1992
• SCL Annual Lecture in 1996, 2006 and 2016
• SCL President from 2011

Mark O’Conor

Patricia Shaw

Sue McLean

Caroline Gould

Dr Fernando Barrio
Senior Lecturer in Business and Law, Queen Mary University of London

• Director of International Engagement for the School of Business and Management
• Academic Lead for Resilience and Sustainability for the QMGPI
• Member of the Department of Business and Society

Fernando joined Queen Mary University of London in 2018  as lecturer in both the School of Business and Management and the School of Law, after moving from Argentina, where he was Ordinary Professor of Cyberlaw and Director of Law at the Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Business Law at SBM.

Fernando carried out his undergraduate studies in International Relations at the Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Law at the University of London. He has a Masters in International Cooperation Studies (Legal System of International Cooperation) from the Graduate School of International Development of Nagoya University and a Ph.D. in International Cooperation from Nagoya University, Japan, as well as a Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from the London Metropolitan University, a Postgraduate Professional Diploma in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and a Postgraduate Certificate in Global Business and Politics from the Yale School of Management.

The main topic that underlines his scholarship and public engagement experience is the global regulation of information technology, intellectual property, human rights and their application to different industries and business. Currently, Fernando is focused on agri-food and agri-business regulation, particularly legal and policy issues of smart farming and biotechnology, climate change and sustainability related business regulatory framework, and community resilience policies. In Argentina was principal researcher at the Public Policy and Government Research Institute of the Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro and Researcher Category 1 of the National System of Incentives to Academic Research of the Argentine Ministry of Education.

Fernando was Japanese Ministry of Education and Science Scholar, the 2007 E. Desmond Lee Visiting Professor for Global Awareness at Webster University, HEA 2008 UK Law Teacher of the Year, and 2012 Rotary Peace Fellow.

Before entering full-time academia, he was Technical Advisor to the Governor of Rio Negro Province, Chief of Non Judicial Negotiations at Piatigorsky Lawyers, and was an adjunct member of the faculty at the School of Law and Social Sciences at the Universidad de Belgrano, all in Argentina.

Fernando is a certified Scuba Diving Instructor and Emergency First Response Instructor.

He is a member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and the Health and Safety Committees the School of Business and Management.

LinkedIn

Toby is a partner in Bristows’ IT & Digital team. He advises on and negotiates commercial, technology and outsourcing agreements. He has particular expertise in working with clients to help them manage and structure complex deals and is recognised for his work on digital transformation, software and telecoms projects.

The primary focus of Toby’s work is on technology, communications and outsourcing projects where he has acted on both the client and supplier side in sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, insurance and life sciences. Toby also advises on other complex commercial transactions and he has particular expertise on deals involving the use and exploitation of technology and intellectual property.

Toby’s recent work includes international outsourcing deals (covering North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific operations), innovative “alt-net” fibre broadband rollouts in the UK, and ‘digital transformation’ projects (covering matters as diverse as procuring software and services to ensuring that new apps enabled by such projects comply with relevant regulatory requirements).

Toby has also gained in-depth experience of advising clients on procurement strategies (e.g. supplier selection, pricing models and performance incentive mechanisms) and has spent time in-house with a large IT services company, an international telecommunications provider, and a mobile telecommunications company.

Toby is a Trustee of the UK’s Society for Computers and Law and lectures widely on IT, e-commerce, cloud computing, agile software development and outsourcing including at ITechLaw, UCL and QMUL.

Commercial technology lawyer and team leader at AWS. Managing workstreams encompassing Sovereignty, Financial Services, Regulatory & Public Policy, Marketing and Training. Recognised by The Legal 500 as a Next Generation Lawyer whilst in private practice. Previous private practice experience as a Senior Associate at RPC law firm and in-house experience at Google and Accenture. Board Member of The Society for Computers & Law.

Matthew is regarded as one of the most sought-after commercial silks at the bar for technology disputes, with a focus on IT, IP, telecoms and related disputes (including software copyright, licensing, cyber risk, cloud, blockchain and fintech, AI and the internet). This is demonstrated in the directories, where he is ranked as a star individual for IT and is described as having “a great understanding of a lot of IT matters, and he’s very sharp and astute legally as well.” “He combines his knowledge of the law with a deep understanding of software issues. He’s brilliant with clients and his pleadings are accurate and well drafted” (Chambers & Partners 2022 – IT).

He acts in a wide range of commercial and contractual disputes in a variety of industry sectors, including the fields of banking, energy, financial services, insurance and the sale of goods in both litigation and arbitration (institutional and ad hoc). Matthew also advises in relation to dispute avoidance and in non-contentious commercial contexts. Legal 500 2021 say that “Matthew is a star, combining really deep technical knowledge with first class analytical skills and a friendly yet a authoritative manner with clients and instructing counsel”.

Matthew also has expertise in aviation work where he acts and advises in relation to commercial and technical aspects of aviation and the business of aviation. He has been instructed by aircraft owners and operators, equipment manufacturers, maintenance organisations and ground handling agents. He holds UK and US commercial pilot licences, giving him a detailed and practical understanding of aviation and the context in which disputes in this sector arise.

He is co-editor of Hervey & Lavy, The Law of Artificial Intelligence (Sweet & Maxwell, 2020) and is a Trustee of the Society for Computers and Law.

Mark Lumley

Mark is a Technology and Commercial lawyer with more than 25 years’ legal experience supporting a wide range of businesses, his breadth of knowledge and capability is widely recognised. Mark has acted for many household names and technology businesses and supported many complex projects.

Mark is particularly noted for his negotiation skills and ability to find practical and legally effective solutions.

Mark acts as a key strategic advisor to boards and business leaders.

Mark has a keen interest in applying knowledge of good business practice and process. Mark has a good understanding of how organisations can deploy proven Risk Management and Business Continuity standards and methodologies in their organisations, helping clients identify and execute their strategy and helping them create and protect value in their business.

Mark provides support for commercial contracts and commercial contract systems, helping clients establish good business process and contract management, supporting end-to-end processes in a digital world.

Mark assists both digital businesses and organisations undertaking digital transformation.

Dr Katherine (Katia) Ramo is Of Counsel in the Technology, Media, IP and Competition (TMIC) and Head of Pro Bono Practice at CMS London.

Katherine is a multi-award-wining global lawyer who advises on a wide range of transactional corporate M&A, commercial and  regulatory matters.

Katherine spent time on secondment to BT’s Product & Portfolio Legal & Regulatory department.

Before joining CMS, Katherine had a highly successful global career in international development advising governments and multinational organisations on high profile high value acquisition and assistance matters with the U.S. State Department, World Bank, IMF, UN and other multi-donor agencies.

Katherine champions diversity, in the City & globally, across every channel, leading diversity networks, mentoring, writing and speaking at events. She is called upon both internally and externally by clients and diversity organisations, and by the UN and regulatory bodies, to provide advice regarding diversity issues, particularly surrounding gender and disability.

Shelley is a solicitor with twenty two years of experience of working in private practice and in house, specialising in Information Technology, Information Governance and Data Protection Law, IP, drafting, negotiating and advising on Commercial Contracts and Risk and Compliance.

I have lectured extensively on commercial issues at a number of universities and delivered conference presentations and training programmes to internal and external clients.

Specialties include Data Protection and Privacy, Commercial Law, Risk and Compliance, Intellectual Property, Outsourcing and E-commerce.

Chris James is General Counsel of Zing. Chris has been a lawyer since 2006, with a (semi-)professional coding background since the ’90s. Chris now leads a legal team within a new fintech.

Richard Ashcroft joined City Law School in September 2019 as Deputy Dean and Professor of Bioethics. Previously he was Professor of Bioethics at Queen Mary, University of London, where had had been Deputy and Acting Head of the Department of Law. He is an expert on biomedical research ethics and public health ethics, with more than 200 publications in these fields. He has had numerous public roles, including most recently a year as an Alan Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute (2018-19), working on ethics and artificial intelligence in healthcare.

Richard Barnett is General Counsel, Data Protection Officer and Head of Corporate Risk at The National Gallery.

Richard is a commercial, intellectual property and technology lawyer specialising in contract negotiation, brands and data protection in the cultural sector.

Richard was previously General Counsel at the Science Museum Group.

Susan Barty is a technology lawyer with a keen interest in Technology law and Advertising and Marketing law and in reputation management

Susan was previously technology and IP partner at the law firm CMS in London for 27 years.

She is a member of ITechLaw (the International Technology Law Association), former member of the Executive Committee and former President of ITechLaw, and member of ITechLaw’s Advisory Board.

Susan is Chapter Lead of Responsible AI: A Global Policy Framework published by ITechLaw, co-editor of the 2021 Update of Responsible AI: A Global Policy Framework and co-editor of The EU AIA: A Green Paper Policy Analysis.

She is also an accredited CEDR mediator.

Bill is an experienced consultant with a proven track record in business transformation and benefits management. Bill’s focus is on business & technology architecture within regulated organisations.

Bill leads Process Renewal Group activities in the UK, working with clients to support a range of transformation initiatives.

He is also a Trustee and Deputy Chair for Friends of Imperial College.

Carolyn Burbridge is a partner specialising in Technology and Digital Media matters. She has considerable experience and expertise in providing commercial and pragmatic legal advice to businesses at all stages of their lifecycle. Carolyn has been a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 for a number of years.

David is the Editor of Computers & Law. He is also Publishing Director at Bath Publishing Limited.

David’s specialties are legal publishing and publishing generally, writing, content commissioning and curation, web project management, event and webinar organisation and ideas.

Lorraine is a UCL LLB graduate and Information Technology Law alumna from the LSE. Lorraine has built a strong interest and expertise through working in Fintech and the Legaltech sectors.

She is the founder of lifeofalondonlawstudent.com and @londonlawstudent on Instagram. Lorraine offers mentoring through sharing her journey and about all things law, productivity and personal development.

Anna specialises in dispute resolution, including litigation and international arbitration. She has particular expertise in contractual disputes, IT projects, telecoms, outsourcing and services, copyright, software licensing and confidentiality. Her work often includes multiple jurisdictions and close coordination with foreign lawyers.

Anna is a Fellow of the Society of Computers and Law. She is a member of the IADC and is Chair of its International Arbitration Committee. Anna is also a trustee of the charity, Full Fact.

Dr Sam De Silva is a Partner in the Technology and Outsourcing practice and is the Global Co-Head of the Commercial Practice Group.

Sam has had in-house industry legal experience, having been seconded to Accenture UK for 9 months as a Senior Legal Counsel.

As well as being an English qualified solicitor, Sam is also a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia.

As the Chief Executive of SCL, Caroline is responsible for the Society’s administration and financial management. Working closely with the SCL Board of Trustees, it is Caroline’s responsibility to develop the Society’s long-term strategy, budget and business plan and to ensure the Society complies with the law and regulations. Caroline is also responsible for managing the SCL administration team and for all the contractors who work with SCL.

Caroline read law at the University of the West of England before joining SCL in 1991.

Kuan is Of Counsel in Dentons’ Global Privacy and Cybersecurity group, based in London. Her particular focus is on UK and EU data protection, privacy, e-privacy and cybersecurity laws, but she also has broader tech and data law expertise, especially regarding cloud computing, artificial intelligence/machine-learning and digital services/online platforms.

With computing science as well as law degrees, and having participated in penetration testing training and events, Kuan is particularly well placed to advise on technology- and security-related matters. She was previously a banking, debt capital markets and corporate insolvency lawyer before she moved into technology law.

Kuan is also a Member of the UK International Data Transfer Expert Council and Editor of the Encyclopedia of Data Protection & Privacy.

PG (Peter) Hunn is Senior Director, Smart Agreements at DocuSign. Peter pioneered the development of smart legal contracts.

Peter also works on the Accord Project, and writes on the law around digital assets, DAOs, and smart contracts. His most recent book Smart Legal Contracts was co-authored with Dr Jason Allen. Previously, Peter was the Founder and CEO of Clause (acquired by DocuSign).

As Professor of Human Centred Computing in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford Marina leads interdisciplinary research that combines both social and computer science approaches to the design of technology.

She is the Director of the newly established Responsible Technology Institute, an international and interdisciplinary hub for responsible innovation focusing on a range of ICT areas including robotics, AI and the digital economy.

Marina is also the co-director of ORBIT, a leading provider of RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) training across academia and industry.

Recently concluded projects include a range of topics in RI: trust in algorithms, responsible AV data, responsible social media, trusted digital economy.

Natalie is responsible for collecting and exhibiting digital design for the museum, as well as taking on responsibility for the care, research, and interpretation of the Museum’s digital design collections. Natalie works in the Design and Digital Section of the Art, Architecture, Photography, and Design department, which also looks after Rapid Response Collecting.

She is currently working on a project on disability culture, design, and identity.

Chris Marsden is Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Technology and the Law, Director of the new Digital Law Group at Monash, and Associate Director for Global Governance of the Data Futures Institute.

Chris researches regulation by code – whether legal, software or social code. He is author of many refereed articles, book chapters, professional articles, keynote addresses, and other scholarly contributions.

He joined Monash from Sussex Law School, where he was Professor of Law (2013-22), Director of the Centre for Information Governance Research and Co-Investigator in the UK Trusted Autonomous Systems Governance and Regulation consortium (UKRI-EPSRC 2020-4) and Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (UKRI-ESRC 2022-27).

Jack works at the intersection between science and policymakers to explore the implications of emerging technologies and promote policies to support their responsible development for the long term benefit of humanity. Topics include neurotechnology, space, novel materials, artificial intelligence, and foundation models.

Martin is an experienced lawyer specialising in IP, Tech and Data. Martin’s expertise includes technology procurement, IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing, commercial contracts, intellectual property, data protection, ePrivacy and cyber risk.

Martin is a Ranked Individual for Information Technology and Data Protection & Information Law by Chambers UK 2024 and
Legal 500 UK 2024 ranks Martin as a Leading Individual (IT & Telecoms, Media & Entertainment).

Martin is a Law Society of Scotland Certified Specialist in Cyber Security.

Martin also Chairs the Law Society of Scotland’s Working Group on Electronic Signatures.

Maddie is responsible for developing and maintaining business and customer relationships for the Society. Maddie also oversees the Society’s communications and marketing. Prior to this Maddie was SCL Event Manager.

Previous experience includes working with creative agencies at Bristol Media and administrative support to the Right Track Project, part of The Children’s Society. Right Track worked with Black and Minority Ethnic young people involved or at risk of involvement in the Youth Justice System.

Karen is Interdisciplinary Professorial Fellow in Law, Ethics and Informatics at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham.

Karen Yeung joined Birmingham Law School and the University of Birmingham’s School of Computer Science as Interdisciplinary Professorial Fellow in Law, Ethics and Informatics in January 2018. Her research has been at the forefront of understanding the challenges associated with the regulation and governance of emerging technologies.

Her on-going work focusing on the legal, ethical, social and democratic implications of a suite of technologies associated with automation and the ‘computational turn’, including big data analytics, artificial intelligence (including various forms of machine learning), distributed ledger technologies (including blockchain) and robotics.