The past year of the uncertain and unknown has led to a property market that is flat-lining. The Prime Minister’s pitch to the electorate is “strong and stable” leadership during a period of Brexit negotiations. But the present reality is a stagnant but stable market. And the election, at least in the short term, is adding to the uncertainty. Could the result mean a time of opportunity and growth is just around the corner? Or just another bump in the long-term trend? What could the election mean for the property market?

Increasingly, we find ourselves speaking with law firms that have an in-house marketing resource, albeit in many cases that in-house resource is limited to one or two individuals. Coming from an in-house law firm marketing background myself, I find it heartening that law firms are recognising the value of having in-house marketing support during these times of unprecedented change in the profession. However, not every firm has the budget to hire half a dozen or more marketers, each with niche expertise in a particular area, to cover every need and eventuality. Many law firms will try and get around this issue by hiring a general ‘all-rounder’.

On average, 4,000 ransomware attacks occurred per day in 2016, according to a report from the FBI. Diving deeper, ransomware attacks on businesses have become more frequent as well. Between January and September 2016, ransomware attacks on business increased from once every two minutes to once every 40 seconds, according to Kaspersky. Over the last 12 months, the levels of cyber activity continue to increase month on month, as have the sophistication of attacks, but in just the four days after the WannaCry attack, the volumes of malicious activity increased 400% over the previous month.

The legal profession has been on the receiving end of much hype regarding the impact of technology. Recent commentators purport that the aspiring lawyer must be a triple threat, possessing knowledge of the law, coding expertise, and in-depth knowledge of legal technology. Yet, focusing on legal technology risks overlooking the need for skills that transcend latest fads. Legal technology is a means by which to handle data: to organise it, record it, extract it, analyse it, predict from it and leverage it. Quantitative and statistical literacy – the ability to understand, apply, visualise and infer from data – underpins technological literacy and yet receives very little attention from those who encourage innovation in the legal curriculum.

One news item has dominated the headlines over the last week – cyber-attacks and, in particular, the WannaCry ransomware. It is a well-known and well-documented fact that the legal industry, and conveyancing in particular, can be a vulnerable and high value target. This ranges from property hijacking – where fraudsters pose as legitimate owners of a property and sell it on without the real owner’s knowledge – to ‘Friday afternoon fraud’, with criminals contacting a busy law firm to ‘update’ their bank details to redirect funds.