There is a real danger of a deep recession bordering on a depression when we emerge from the coronavirus crisis. Even if the recession is deep but short as predicted by some economists, it will have profound repercussions for some of our more fragile law firms who provide valued legal services to their communities across the country.

It will be a seismic event too in the way that working practices may change after lessons learned about home-working and the attractiveness or limitations of artificial intelligence in this digital age.

Scotland’s lawyers have shown themselves to be resilient, dynamic and imaginative – qualities that will be drawn upon in the next few months as the legal landscape is redrawn. 

For 12 years, Scottish Legal News has been by your side and on your side reporting daily on the fast-changing legal scene and campaigning for access to justice and a proper and fully-funded legal aid system as a cornerstone of the Scottish legal system.

Just like most law firms, we are preparing to make the changes necessary to maintain a service that is valued by our 13,200 daily subscribers and the 52,000 unique visitors to our website.

We believe that in the difficult days ahead Scottish Legal News can play a vital role in keeping the legal community in touch and maintaining morale. And we have already noticed a significant increase in reader engagement since most lawyers went into home-working.

So, we will continue to publish on a daily basis and welcome your input more than ever.  In lockdown, you may find that you finally have the time to write that blog or opinion piece that you’ve always meant to get around to.  If so, we would like to hear from you. We welcome your news and home-working tips – upbeat, fun and cheery stories most welcome!

Our editor Kapil Summan can be contacted at: kapil@scottishnews.com and our redoubtable advertising manager Jeff Anderson remains at his post on jeff@scottishnews.com and 01292 479443.

I would like to thanks all of our readers, contributors and advertisers who have made Scottish Legal News such a success.

Good luck to all in the weeks ahead. And, please, stay safe.

Graham Ogilvy

Managing editor