Volume 9 Issue 2

The Role of Lawyers in a Digital Economy: The Y2K Problem as a Case Study in Legal Compliance and Risk Management

EUGENE CLARK, GEORGE CHO & ARTHUR HOYLE


Abstract

The Year 2000 Date has come and gone without major disaster. That this result was achieved was, in the authors' view, more to do with good management than luck. Moreover, by examining the way in which governments, business and other firms prepared for and handled the Y2K problem, we may learn some valuable lessons which will help ensure that future problems will be handled equally as well. In this way, organisations will not only prevent a legal disaster, but are likely to find that a proactive, integrated use of the law and a culture of compliance can bring wider benefits to the business and increased value for stakeholders. The Y2K problem and its resolution thus provides an excellent case study from which to draw many valuable lessons about the role of legal compliance and the changing nature of legal practice in a digital economy.


Eugene Clark is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law, University of Canberra. George Cho is Assoc Professor of Geographic Information Systems and the Law and Arthur Hoyle is Lecturer in Law at the University of Canberra. They are the authors of Y2K: Avoiding the Legal Byte, Prospect Publishing 1999. Parts of this chapter have appeared in the above mentioned Y2K Prospect publication and in and Going Digital 2nd Edition, also by Prospect Publishing, Sydney.


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