Law Society and Spanish National Bar mark Smartcard partnership at Excellence Awards

The Law Society of Scotland’s Smartcard project was named as a finalist at the recent UK Association Excellence Awards.

At the ceremony in London, representatives from the Society were joined by a guest from the Spanish National Bar, who are the Society’s partners in the project. The Smartcard was a nominated finalist in the ‘Best Member Engagement’ category.

As part of the project, which is sponsored by First Scottish, so far around 8,500 Scottish solicitors have been issued with a Smartcard. It gives members of the legal profession a proof of identity recognised across Europe and a secure, qualified digital signature for completing legal processes.

Having a qualified digital certificate allows solicitors practise online with full guarantee of confidentiality, authentication and integrity.

The Spanish National Bar, who created the IT system used as part of the Society’s Smartcard rollout, have issued some 250,000 digital signatures to solicitors across Europe.

Carmen Pérez Andújar, Deputy Secretary of Material and Technological Resources of the Spanish National Bar attended the awards ceremony as a guest of the Law Society.

James Ness, the Law Society of Scotland’s Smartcard project manager said: “We were delighted to be joined by the Spanish National Bar to mark our partnership on this project. Their input and expertise has been invaluable to us given the project’s scale and international scope.

“We have issued Smartcards to our members working across Scotland and 16 other countries so far. Using the Spanish National Bar’s system, which we knew was reliable and robust, has allowed us to do that.”

Carmen Pérez Andújar said: “Becoming a technological partner of the Law Society of Scotland has been for us the result of our commitment and investment in technology. The Law Society’s enthusiasm and professionalism has been vital to the success of this project and we trust it will be the beginning of a long, lasting relationship, with future collaborations.”

Find out more about the Smartcard

Carmen Pérez Andújar, Deputy Secretary of Material and Technological Resources of the Spanish National Barat the Spanish National Bar, pictured with James Ness, Smartcard project manager at the Law Society of Scotland.