Houlder: bar must keep up The government, Law Society and Bar Council have set up pilots designed to encourage lawyers to use secure e-mail when communicating with criminal justice organisations, in advance of a big push to widen use of the new technology later this year.

Secure e-mail technology enables organisations to share sensitive information quickly and confidentially. It was pioneered by several criminal justice organisations - including the police, probation services, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and Criminal Justice IT (CJIT), the body responsible for delivering IT services to the criminal justice community.


But it has not been widely used and the opportunities for lawyers to communicate with these organisations have been limited.


The Department for Constitutional Affairs, CPS, Law Society and Bar Council are now working with CJIT on a series of projects designed to encourage solicitors and barristers to take up secure e-mail.


A spokeswoman for CJIT said that the project broadens the scope of secure e-mail to take in the wider criminal justice community.


She said: 'The project is evaluating the best ways of engaging defence lawyers in four different areas across England and Wales and is due to complete in the autumn.'


After the pilots a concerted drive to encourage the widespread use of secure e-mail will be launched.


Bruce Houlder QC, the vice-chairman of the Bar Council's IT panel, warned barristers in a recent position paper of the consequences to the profession if it fails to take up the new technology.


He said: 'The fact is that without it [secure e-mail] the bar will be left behind the rest of the criminal justice system.'