Dr. Stephen Castell, Chartered Information Systems Practitioner and Member of the Expert Witness Institute, is Chairman of CASTELL Consulting. He is an internationally acknowledged Independent Computer Expert who has been involved in a wide range of computer litigation over many years. CASTELL Consulting, currently in its twenty-fifth year, provides independent professional consultancy and expert services in Computer Systems, Software, Project Management, Strategy, and Contract Disputes, to a wide variety of international clients and companies. As an Expert Witness in computer litigation, Dr. Castell has acted in over 100 major cases including the largest and longest computer software actions to have come to trial in the English High Court. He is the author of the best-selling Computer Bluff (1983), and of The APPEAL Report (1990) on the admissibility of computer evidence in court and the 'legal reliability' of information systems and technologies (with the CCTA).
The Reg A Conference is the largest gathering of deal-makers and investors interested in Regulation A, a prime opportunity for companies to network with like-minded business executives, as well as financial professionals who assist in bringing capital to companies (https://theregaconference.com/presenting-companies/). Many such companies are today basing their new business ventures and projects, and their search and submissions for funding, on blockchain technology applications. So-called cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are just one example of the use of this functionality. The business implications of this secure online record-keeping tech are huge – and not only in cryptocurrency. This presentation provides a probing and extensive expert critique of blockchain, its cryptocurrency, distributed ledger and smart contract applications, and argues for a cautionary, savvy approach to implementing and investing in such business systems, on grounds of professional due diligence, rigorous corporate governance and wide experience of past leading-edge ICT systems failures.
The new government has announced the areas that it has identified for dramatic cuts in public spending. One of the most effective reductions should be derived through more professional, better-managed government IT spending.
You are an established, reputable, medium-sized corporation. A year ago your board decided to upgrade your existing computer systems by buying a 'unified package', 'lightly-customised', from a 'solution provider'.
Synopsis of a Talk given to the Association of Independent Computer Specialists
Software implementation contracts are frequently terminated with the software rejected amidst allegations from both supplier and customer, e.g. software/database errors/deficiencies, faulty design, shifting user/business requirements. An important technical issue on which the IT Expert appointed in such disputes is asked to give an expert opinion is: what was the quality of the delivered software and was it fit for purpose?
The Negotiation Competition, now in its fifth year, is a contest open to all law students in England and Wales, designed to promote the skill of negotiation, a crucial component of ADR
I spent much of a whole year recently investigating why a major IT outsourcing deal broke down, and had given rise to the largest software contract dispute yet seen in the English High Court
Disputes over failed software construction projects raise interlinked technical and legal issues which are complex, costly, and time-consuming to unravel – whatever the financial size of the claims and counterclaims, the facts and circumstances of the contract between the parties, or the conduct of the software development
