Following welcome addresses from both the Law and Computer Science faculties, the conference chair (Erich Schweighofer) officially opened the conference and a panel of speakers gave a plenary address.
Abdul Paliwala spoke of, and paid homage to, the pioneers of the past (Martin, Susskind, de Mulder & Leith) and looked to the future with possible new jurisprudence, a reversal of emphasison IT law to Legal Informatics, and a new culture with web2.0, creative commons and open access legal inforation such as WorldLII.
Abdul alsopresented the 9th volume of the LEFIS Series, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of BILETA as a organisation and conference organiser. Conference delegates received a copy of the book, BILETA institutional members will also receive a copy and so will a number of academic departments developing countries.
The chapters within the book are also available in the first edition of the newly re-named European Journal of Law and Technology (EJLT), previously known at JILT, but still within the group of Electronic Law Journals. The first such edition of EJLT (vol 1, no 1) was released by Abdul at the conference and can now be viewed online at: http://ejlt.org//issue/current.