Join Paul Haswell is a partner at Howse Williams in Hong Kong, as he explores the transformative impact of technology on the legal profession in his new column for IHC Magazine. Paul offers insights into the challenges and opportunities for in-house and external counsel, providing thought-provoking perspectives on the future of law in the digital age. Every year in Hong Kong I give a series of talks designed to ensure that the participant lawyers attending them can acquire enough CPD points to ensure that they reach the re quired minimum amount set by the Law Society so that they can continue to practice for another year. Over the last few years those talks have focused on data privacy, case law updates, effective drafting, or artificial intelligence (there have been a lot on artificial intelligence). But this year was a bit different, as I was asked to give a presentation on what precisely a technology lawyer does. It almost led to an existential crisis as I began to wonder… “what exactly do I actually do?” The answer is complicated. Being a technology lawyer is not like being a corporate lawyer (who might say “I do M&A work” or “I do IPOs”). Nor is it quite like being a disputes lawyer (who might say, “I send scary letters and sue people”). It’s certainly not like being a tax lawyer (who could probably say “I am better at maths than you”). Technology is all pervasive now. Which means technology law is as well. We all walk around carrying computers with us in the form of smartphones, which we use for hours each...