Internet Newsletter for Lawyers
January/February 2004, by Delia Venables
|
New Directions...
by Delia Venables
Free CPD from CrimeLine
CrimeLine, (see www.crimeline.info), the information and training site run by criminal
lawyers Andrew Keogh and Paul Lewis, is now offering free CPD. The lawyer receives
a weekly email "Updater" on criminal law covering new cases, legislation and criminal law
news. At the end of the month, the lawyer can answer 12 multiple-choice questions online
and if they get at least 9 of these right (with the questions being marked automatically
and the result being available straight away) they can print out a certificate allowing 1
hours CPD. This allows 12 hours CPD to be obtained in the year - and all free. You can
register on the site and also view past issues. There is also a sample test available (no
legal questions - more a sort of general knowledge quiz) where you can test out the way
it works. I got 10 out of 12 - doubtless others can do better! An earlier version of this
scheme has been in operation for some months and the email Updater is already read
by 3,000 lawyers each week.
New Directory of Barristers and Chambers
Bardirectory.org (www.bardirectory.org) is a new directory providing a free online register
for chambers with a list of all members, information about chambers, and contact
information. This is intended to become a resource for solicitors searching for particular
skills and experience. The basic entry is free but for a cost of £2 per barrister per month,
chambers can add full profiles of all members, including cases and articles and a link to
a chamber's own website. This can be updated by chambers using a content
management system. A further level of service provides a total website for chambers who
do not yet have their own site or are unhappy with their present one. Individual barristers
for whom their chambers does not already use the service can obtain their own entry -
effectively a website of their own - for £99 plus VAT a year. The service is run by Nasstar,
an Internet Services Provider set up in 1998 by Charles Black, a qualified barrister.
Nasstar has already set up sites for several chambers.
Legal Information Exchange - Linex
Linex (www.linex.co.uk) is a subscription service which monitors the web sites of UK and
international law firms, government and EU organisations and major legal news
agencies. The Linex editors also monitor legal news from online legal publishers,
seminars and courses, and provide transcripts and reports from a selection of latest
cases. Users can set up a profile to determine the work areas they are interested in and
the sources from which they wish the content to be selected. There are already in-house
counsel from 800 companies using the service and 1,000 law firms, including many major
firms. Some of these firms are adding their content directly to the Linex database, seeing
the service as a way to reach in-house counsel for marketing purposes. Previously
operating as "Legalwebwatch", the company is now registered as Linex to reflect the
information exchange (and therefore marketing) aspects of the service rather than "just"
the monitoring function.
Back to Contents.