Stephen Mason

Work undertaken

The general terms and conditions upon which I provide services are set out in the Code of Conduct, notably annexes G1 and G2. Any work I undertake will be subject to the law of England & Wales.

I have professional indemnity insurance, provided by the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Limited and territorial cover is world-wide, subject to the terms of cover.

If you have a complaint, please contact me immediately. I will endeavour to resolve the issue with you. If a satisfactory solution is not possible, please refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

As far as I am aware, I was the first lawyer to write an e-book in 1999 on the Y2K issue, and the first barrister to write a set of e-commerce precedents for lawyers on behalf of the Butterworths Tolley Electronic Business Law web site in 2000. I also drafted the evidence part of the ISEB syllabus for the Certificate in IT Law Foundation established in 2005, although now withdrawn.

Organizing and running events for governments

I have experience of organizing and running seminars and events on electronic signatures and digital evidence for governments.

Legal advice for the investigation and collection of digital evidence across jurisdictions

I help companies specializing in the investigation and collection of digital evidence when they are required to undertake their investigations across jurisdictional boundaries, by liaising with international law firms to provide relevant advice relating to the proper conduct of their work.

Electronic signature applications and products

I have advised commercial legal entities and governments in relation to electronic signatures, both on a comparative basis (that is, the different effects of electronic signature laws across a number of jurisdictions, including the admissibility of electronic evidence in relation to electronic signatures) and in respect of electronic signature products in a number of jurisdictions.

Individual projects dealt with electronic signatures and digital evidence respecting the following jurisdictions: Cameroon, UK, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.

In October 2007, I arranged and hosted a study tour to London (obtaining outside technical speakers and outlining the legal aspects of the study tour) for Mr Guo Honjie Technical Director of CA Research, China Center of Electronic and Information Industry Development Research and Ms Yan Xiaoli, research expert, China Center of Electronic and Information Industry Development Research. The aim of the project was as follows:

To learn about the development of electronic authentication service in EU nations, and also the regulatory systems, measures and technologies for electronic authentication service, in order to give some suggestions for the Chinese government on how to regulate an electronic authentication service.

The topics of interest included:

the laws and policies for electronic authentication service in EU nations;

the supervision systems for electronic authentication service in EU nations;

the technology and infrastructure for electronic authentication service in EU nations;

the measures of international mutual recognition about electronic authentication service in EU nations and the operation modes of Bridge CA, root CA and policy CA in EU nations.

I represented a client in one of the two electronic signatures cases to be brought before the courts in England: Job v Halifax PLC (not reported) Case number 7BQ00307; date of trial: 30 April 2009; date of judgment: 4 June 2009, the full judgment and a commentary by Alistair Kelman can be found in the Digital Evidence and Electronic Signature Law Review, 6 (2009) 235 – 245.

More recently, I have provided advice to a commercial client on the legal and regulatory factors affecting the use and acceptance of e-signatures in commerce; the extent to which electronic signatures are used today, and in what manner; standardization of technologies and authentication and identification methods; admissibility of electronic records in courts of law; cultural factors that may affect adoption of electronic signatures and records and case law, including admissibility standards for electronic records and signatures in the following jurisdictions: England & Wales, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia; Australia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand; Canada and Mexico.

Non-contentious advice

I provide non-contentious advice and statements to solicitors, in-house counsel, and lawyers in other jurisdictions.

Direct instructions

I accept direct instructions from in-house counsel, company secretaries, accountants, and public entities.

Electronic evidence (comprising analogue and digital evidence)

Advising lawyers in England & Wales and other jurisdictions about the rules for the admission of digital evidence into legal proceedings in England & Wales, and in respect of the admissibility and assessment of electronic signatures.

Moving to the paperless environment

Many organizations would like to save the expense of storing volumes of paper by having all documents stored on computers, but many are not sure about the value of the documents as evidence if they have been scanned. This need not be a problem if dealt with properly.

Electronic risks

I advise on electronic signatures (including advising governments; I represented Mr Job on behalf of the Bar Pro Bono work on an electronic signature case (PIN and ATM) also known as ‘phantom withdrawal’, details of which are available here and advised about the signature on an indemnity and guarantee form that was transferred to microfiche before the original document was destroyed), authentication, retention of electronic documents and admissibility; e-mail and internet use policies; security policies; interception and monitoring of communications and data protection.

Information technology and electronic business

Software licences; on-line trading terms; disclaimers; terms of use; privacy policies for e-commerce sites; domain name disputes and back-end contracts; I have conducted the specialist e-commerce due diligence in a take-over involving a payment gateway.

Commercial

Agency and distribution agreements; bespoke commercial agreements for national and international companies; terms of trading.

Terms of work

If I undertake work for you, I will agree a time scale with you for the work to be completed.

Who I accept instructions from
I accept referral instructions from firms of solicitors, and direct instructions from legal directors, the company secretary of a registered company or the managing partner of a partnership. I also accept instructions from lawyers in other jurisdictions. I will provide advice on a non-contentious matter in writing (by e-mail and postal mail) or by meeting you.

Areas of work that I do not accept direct instructions
I will not accept any work that is not within my area of competence, and I will inform you immediately, should this occur.

How and where I work
I mainly provide written advice, which usually means it is sufficient that you set out what you would like me to advise upon. I work with you to ensure that I am clear about what you want advice upon before I begin the work, and I will provide the advice by e-mail and on paper.
Whilst I am willing to work almost anywhere, I charge for travelling time.

Fees
I will either quote an hourly rate or fixed sum before taking on any work, although there will be occasions, because of the nature of the work, that I can only give an estimate.

Further information
The Bar Council web site is very useful.