I am delighted to be writing for the Law Society Gazette as an in-house lawyer in industry. The Law Society represents and services the interests of 126,000 solicitors. Some 33% of these lawyers are working in house.

Everyone has seen the very positive continuing developments recently at the Gazette as the Society continues to embrace electronic and digital media. Daily news updates are now being sent by email to solicitors who can now access developments as and when they occur, whether they are working in our country or whether they are practising as solicitors elsewhere around the globe.

All manner of solicitors across our profession are benefiting, be they lawyers working in-house or for government, sole practitioners, solicitors in high street firms or commercial lawyers working for regional, City, US and international practices.

The daily updates carry an excellent range of news and features that are of interest to all of the different segments of our profession. As a result, more and more lawyers are now seeing more of what is happening across the broader legal community.

We are also learning more about how the Society itself is working for each of the different segments of our profession. This is not only in the UK itself, but the Society also works in jurisdictions across the world to maximise the opportunities for our profession. This may be, for example, to allow solicitors to provide services in other countries, so we can service companies and institutions who may be overseas.

Everything we do as lawyers, whether in an office or courtroom, will at some stage rely on successful communication. The success of our clients’ and stakeholders’ transactions, cases and matters will depend on the influence that such communication carries.

The continuing developments at the Society and the Gazette to embrace electronic communication and digital media will be of benefit to the entire legal community.

Ed Gretton is an in-house lawyer running a legal function in industry, as head of legal at Hanson