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Web Sites and Technology on the Legal Internet

New items are posted here every few days covering interesting new web sites developments and technology for UK lawyers

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For older (archived) "New" items, see New from 2008 or New from 2009.

Last updated on March 6th 2010.

Latest legal blogs

  • UK Blawg Roundup otherwise known as UK Lawyers' Blog Carnival, or the blog of blogs, is the initiative of a group of lawyers interested in social media (including Tessa Shepperson, Michael Scutt, Brian Inkster, Jon Bloor and Shireen Smith). The blog carnival was set up by Michael Scutt to feature British blawgs (there is also the Blawg Review but this is mainly USA based). (Right now, the Blawg Review is featuring the UK Lawyers Blog Carnival - it's all a bit of a love-in really). The first edition is hosted on Michael Scutts blog and there will be a series of hosts, each with a theme or a special interest. Michael describes the UK legal blogging scene and also has some ugly Christmas scenes (Michael eating mince pies and such like).

  • Family Law In Partnership blog is a seriously informative blog about divorce, children in divorce situations, when to consider collaborative law, special risks in international abduction, topics of jurisidiction - and of course, much more. This one is written for individuals concerned with family law rather than for family lawyers.

    Last updated on March 4th 2010.

  • The Law Society's new manifesto, called Delivering Justice urges all political parties to respect the rule of law and safeguard access to justice. The Law Society believes that whichever party is in government following the general election, they will face a hostile and difficult environment. In facing that challenge, the Government must not forget the basic needs for justice and the rule of law. The manifesto calls on all political parties to publicly support the following four principles in their campaigning, policy development and - if elected - their actions over the next Parliament:
    * The rule of law and access to justice
    * The defence of the rights of the people
    * Good governance and better law-making
    * A strong and independent legal services sector
    All these sections can be reached from the main page, as above.

    Last updated on February 27th 2010.

    My thanks to Nick Holmes for this item

  • Google Scholar now provides Legal Opinions. (Choose "Search legal opinions and journals" from the Scholar Preferences option at the right hand side; you can then choose "Save Preferences" to retain this option). A search here opens up access to full text legal opinions from US federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts and (via a "Cited By" feature) links to other cases and articles on Google Scholar that cite them. Though court opinions in the US are not protected by copyright, they were hitherto only readily available for comprehensive searching via subscription services such as Lexis and Westlaw. You can also use Google Scholar / Legal Opinions to follow up citations of judgments that are not themselves indexed in full text, including those from other jurisdictions. For example, one will readily find citations of leading cases such as Hedley Byrne and Donoghue v Stevenson, and more recent cases of course. See also Don Cruse's Supreme Court of Texas Blog for more on this.

    Last updated on February 25th 2010.

  • Capsoft, the Edinburgh based developer of document automation software and services using HotDocs software, have now bought HotDocs itself from LexisNexis. Many law firms and large businesses use HotDocs document assembly software to generate customized documents such as contracts, government and court forms and legal documents. Capsoft were already the largest distributor of HotDocs software globally and are now the owners. As part of the process, Capsoft UK has now renamed itself as HotDocs Ltd.

    Last updated on February 20th 2010.

  • TikitTFB is the new name for one of the oldest and most successful legal software suppliers, TFB. The move reflects the growing synergy between TFB and Tikit since TFB was taken over by Tikit and the increasing collaboration on projects over the past twelve months. However, TikitTFB will continue to operate with autonomy within the Tikit Group. The new name and logo will be rolled out over a period of 3 months with all corporate materials and communications moved over to the new identity by the end of May.

    Last updated on February 19th 2010.

    Latest lively legal blog

  • Lodger Landlord Blog comes from Tessa Shepperson, who also runs Landlord Law an online service for residential landlords and tenants. Since the beginning of February she has been offering a tip each day on renting a room in your home to a lodger. Tips include information on your legal obligations, how to choose lodgers, dealing with problem lodgers, whether you need to worry about the HMO regulations, and so on.

    Awards!

  • Road Traffic Law, a Scottish firm of solicitors run by Graham Walker, have been included in the finalists for Specialist Lawyer of the Year run by the Scottish company KDMedia Public Relations & Events. (Click on the "Specialist Lawyer" section about half way down)

    (Maybe I will set up a special page for awards - would anyone like to notify me of their awards? Would this be a bit of "fun" for all concerned?)

    Last updated on February 13th 2010.

    Here comes the next round of free exhibitions of Legal IT.

  • the SOLICITORS Group is the UK's largest collection of law firms and organisers of the profession's leading exhibitions and training congress. The three big events for 2010 are:
    * Law London 2010
    Olympia Conference Centre, London, 9th - 11th March 2010
    * Law Autumn Olympia 2010
    Olympia Conference Centre, London, 28th - 30th September 2010
    * Law Autumn NEC 2010
    NEC Gallery, Birmingham, 13th and 14th October 2010
    You can obtain a free entry to the exhibitions from the site and (in due course) find out more about the specific courses and seminars being offered.

    Last updated on February 8th 2010.

    Here is a list of some useful USA Legal News Sources:

  • FindLaw's Legal News provides a wide range of current legal news stories, grouped by major heading, e.g. US Supreme Court, Business, Civil Rights, Crime, and so on. FindLaw started in 1996 when two attorneys compiled a list of Internet resources for a group of law librarians in northern California. The company is now owned by Thomson Reuters.
  • JURIST is a Web-based legal news and real-time legal research service powered by a mostly-volunteer team of over 30 part-time law student reporters, editors and Web developers led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They track important legal news stories and materials and aim to present them rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format. JURIST says that it covers legal news stories based on their substantive importance rather than on their mass-market or commercial appeal.
  • Law.com is an extensive source of legal news. This site, part of the American Lawyer Media group, has now "gathered up" a number of previously independent legal web sites and businesses. Other sites in the group cover legal jobs, legal training, directories of attorneys and various legal data bases.
  • LLRX (Law Library Resource Xchange) is a free, independent, Web journal providing information on a wide range of Internet research and technology-related issues, applications, resources and tools.
  • NewsLinx provides "Information Technology Headlines From Around The Web" (not specifically legal ones). Everything you could want (and more).
  • bizjournals provides business news "from around the country" linked with many local news sources.

    For more legal sites in the USA, see my page here.

    Last updated on January 29th 2010.

    Three unusual sites! (I report these with a straight face)

  • serial-litigants.com provides a unique and valuable service to those who find themselves caught up in employment tribunal litigation. They undertake a nation-wide search of your opponent to find out whether they have previously won or lost any employment tribunal cases. Armed with information about other claims, the opportunities for achieving a successful outcome (or even a strike-out without a full cost hearing) can be greatly increased. There has been an Early Day Motion with 40 MP's signatures, against this site.

  • Solicitors from Hell is a site for individuals to put up bad remarks about their solicitors. Then (according to the Law Society Gazette) solicitors can pay £299 to get the entries removed. Apparently, this is a lot cheaper than the usual legal redress for libel.

  • Miners Compensation Claims is a site from Jordans Solicitors "Calling all miners suffering from Vibration White Finger (VWF)" who have already made a claim but who did not include damages for services in the claim – every day tasks such as DIY, gardening, window cleaning, decorating or car maintenance. Apparently, it has been estimated that approximately 50,000 miners who are entitled did not submit services claims.

    Last updated on January 24th 2010.

    Getting quite close and well worth a visit - major exhibition of legal technology - and it's all free

  • Legal IT show 2010 takes place on 10th & 11th February 2010 at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London. This is the largest exhibition of its type in Europe. Opening times are 9 30 to 5pm on 10th Feb and 9 30 to 4 30pm on Feb 11th. You can register for a free visitor pass for the exhibition here. Keynote Speakers include Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, MIT Sloan Management School and Dr. Karen Stephenson, CEO, Netform. There is a new Parallel "VIP" Stream which runs alongside the regular meeting. This is an opportunity for (invited) Managing Partners, Finance Directors, IT Directors and Practice Directors from the UK 300 firms to participate in workshop sessions with the Keynote Speakers. There are also 'strategy lab' discussions, live interviews and interactive practitioner panel debates. These are all free.

    Last updated on January 22nd 2010.

    Very exciting.....

  • data.gov.uk is a new site launched by the Government to provide free access to all the data currently held by government (and therefore created by our taxes) which may be of use to individuals or organisations. This has been the culmination of a study of several years length, advised by (amonst others) Tim Berners-Lee. The site uses open standards, open source and open data: these are the core elements of a modular, sustainable system. You can browse the data sets (listed alphabetically) or search them by key word. There is further information about the semantic web - putting out data in a form which can be understood by other applications.

    And see the USA site Data.gov.

    Last updated on January 18th 2010.

  • The Jackson report, written by Lord Justice Jackson, is a review of civil litigation costs. In the forward, he says "In some areas of civil litigation costs are disproportionate and impede access to justice. I therefore propose a coherent package of interlocking reforms, designed to control costs and promote access to justice." (This is a pdf of 584 pages). Detailed analysis and references to other reports can be found on The Legal Costs Blog from Gibbs Wyatt Stone, the Defendant Costs Specialists.

    Last updated on January 17th 2010.

  • The Lawyers Defence Group is a new body set up by Richard Nelson Solicitors and Murdochs Solicitors to provide all lawyers (solicitors, barristers, legal executives and paralegals) with access to practical and expert advice on a wide range of conduct, disciplinary, practice, partnership and employment issues. Areas covered include how to manage a practice and supervise staff to assistance in disciplinary, criminal or civil proceedings. The group believes that the regulatory structure changes so fast that practitioners cannot always keep up with it - and then they may need help when something goes wrong. They have offices in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham, Manchester and Bristol, and they also have access to a panel of other solicitors, barristers and consultants throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland. There is useful information on the site and you can also register (it's free) to obtain more detailed information and support.

    Last updated on January 7th 2010.

    Latest legal blog

  • BDN Blog is written by Andrew Walker of Bircham Dyson Bell. The blog is actually about planning Law and in particular, about the implementation of the Planning Act 2008, which introduces a new regime for the authorisation of large infrastructure such as airport runways, nuclear power stations, windfarms, reservoirs and incinerators. It is principally aimed at non-lawyers - whether potential clients or fellow consultants - although lawyers will also find it useful.

    Last updated on January 5th 2010.

  • Industrial Tribunals and The Fair Employment Tribunal of Northern Ireland share a web site. Industrial Tribunals are independent judicial bodies in Northern Ireland that hear and determine claims to do with employment matters. These include a range of claims relating to unfair dismissal, breach of contract, wages and other payments as well as discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, part time working and equal pay. The Fair Employment Tribunal is an independent judicial body in Northern Ireland that hears and determines complaints of discrimination on the grounds of religious belief or political opinion. You can search on the site for main decisions of the Industrial Tribunals or The Fair Employment Tribunal or both Tribunals.

    Do you want to go back a little further? Please see New from 2009. You can also see New from 2008.

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