Internet Newsletter for Lawyers |
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The Internet Newsletter for Lawyers has become a community of lawyers, and those working with lawyers, who are interested in the legal internet from all its "angles" - how it presents the law, how it widens access to the law, how it is affecting society and the world we live in, legal aspects of e-commerce and websites, how lawyers themselves use it for communicating and for improving service to their clients, how it is changing legal practice for both solicitors and barristers, how they use the internet to market themselves and to sell legal services on the web and IT issues relating to all these topics.
It is typically taken by lawyers interested in how to develop their website and how to make the best use of resources online (particularly free ones), lawyers looking to develop the services they can offer their clients, marketing people within firms and chambers working on raising their profile and getting new work, IT staff responsible for applications related to the internet, and librarians and information-related staff, who circulate the newsletter to those with a special interest in one or more topics.
2. New technology - and the internet in particular - is enabling firms to make more efficient use of their physical premises. Alison Sutherland tells us how homeworking, hotdesking and hotelling are being used to do this, and the pros and cons of each method.
3. Online Dispute Resolution has gone a bit quiet recently but Graham Ross of TheMediationRoom.com suggests that the definition of ODR needs to be extended to include methods which include some online processes rather than methods which are exclusively online. With this slightly extended view, there are some very interesting developments taking place.
4. Voice recognition is a topic which has gone a bit quiet recently as well, having been overtaken by the related (but not identical) concept of digital dictation. Bruce de Wert, of Scottish firm Georgesons describes how he uses Nuance Dragon's Naturally Speaking in his firm, not necessarily for the "big" work but particularly for emails.
5. I continue my series on virtual chambers with a look at how BarristerWeb works - and how it differs from Clerksroom, which I covered in the last issue. How will this type of development affect the way that solicitors (and others) use barristers in future?
6. Claire Line of Lovells and Ann Hemming of LexisNexis Butterworths describe new developments in e-learning which build on business simulations to educate lawyers - a bit like computer games, adapted to explore legal situations. We do not let airline pilots practise in real life until they get the hang of it.
7. Michael Dyer of Dyer Burdett & Co. describes how he developed a "brand" online by setting up a bunch of domain names (marineontheweb.co.uk, conveyancingontheweb.co.uk and so on) and then linking these domain names into particular parts of the firm's website. His web designer gives us some of the technical detail about how to do this.
8. Doug McLaughlin of Axxia Systems describes the new breed of practice management systems which have a workflow engine at their core, and are run across the web, enabling people from the firm to work from anywhere. No special software has to be loaded onto individual PC's or notebook computers, so installation and management is much easier and more secure.
9. Intellectual Property Law in the UK is characterised by a tsunami of information and a rapidly changing statutory and regulatory framework. Jeremy Phillips of Olswang (Jeremy also writes the weblog IPKat) tells us how a group of firms and individuals are planning to set up a wiki for IP and how, once established, it could be extremely useful - and self funding.
In the May/June 2007 issue, we provide a detailed article on hosted email and describe how "Software as a Service"
is becoming an important part of the IT marketplace. We cover Google PageRank - what it is and why it matters.
We look at the illegal downloading of music and the key cases which are driving the current developments.
We cover email notices and email footers from the point of view of limited companies. We examine virtual law
firms and consider the key factors they share and in what respects they differ. We look at how a group of
Law Societies in the South East have set up an online recruitment service and we give a progress report on
the Statute Law Database. Finally we look at the role of the barristers' clerk in a modern online world.
The March/April asks Who needs an IT department? and considers the many IT functions which can now be outsourced,
including data storage, accounts and practice management, case tracking, web site hosting, telecoms, typing and
dictation. In the next issue, there will be an article on hosted (outsourced) email, which is a major topic in
its own right. We then cover the development of the "free access to law" movement across the world and examine
how it all fits together. Returning to the domestic scene, we look at how to create a good set of fee-earner
profiles for your web site and examine how the internet has changed the way that law firms recruit their trainees.
We explore the data protection challenges faced by businesses operating user generated websites - those commonly
known as Web 2.0. What rights (and risks) do the contributors have? We also cover a wiki used by a major New Zealand
firm which gathers the firm's collective wisdom on their specialist work area and we return to the theme of
"the law wiki dream" and whether it can ever work.
The January/February 2007 issue leads with an article on the most important developments in (free) legal information
which have taken place over the last year and gives some predictions for next year. The series on Virtual Law firms
continues with an article from a firm which has gone virtual "bit by bit" - an interesting variant on the theme.
We look at two important "freebies" in the information world - the case reports and summaries provided on some
barristers' sites and the free resources provided by some of the legal journals. There is then an article on how
SharePoint is being used by smaller firms and how the new 2007 version may well become a de facto standard for
legal firms. There are many online panels available for personal injury firms and we look at the leading players,
the costs, and the ups and downs of joining one of these panels. We look at how blogs and wikis are starting to be
used within law firms to collaborate and share information. Finally, we have the case argued very cogently that
wikis may be excellent for some purposes but can never provide the "Multimedia encyclopaedia of English Law" as
suggested by Richard Susskind in 2006.
Full details on past issues:
* Richard Susskind...
* Alison Harvey, Gherson & Co....
* Senior Assistant Librarian (Law Lords Library)...
* Michael Haddrell, IT Manager, McEwens...
* Rowan Alys, Sydney Mitchell.....
* Elizabeth Graham, Librarian, Brodies, Glasgow.....
* Jill Cave-Browne-Cave....
* Vivian Grainge, Library and Information Services Manager, Freeth Cartwright
(Other Subscribers)
* Your newsletter is one publication which I always make sure I read.
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* The Internet Newsletter is about the best value newsletter my firm subscribes to and I have found it extremely useful both in trying to work out a web strategy and as a "portal" to legal websites which we might otherwise have missed.
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The Newsletter is produced bi-monthly in printed form (designed for lawyers and those who work with lawyers,
who do not want to spend ALL their time in front of a computer)
but it is also available to subscribers in a web version without extra charge.
The cost is £45 for the year (6 issues), or 68 euros.
I will be pleased to provide THREE back issues of the printed newsletter without charge,
with any new subscription, and also access to ALL back issues on the web.
No money is needed in advance - just email me with your order, and you
will be invoiced with the Newsletter.
(Please give me your full name and postal details, and also phone number).
If you prefer to subscribe and pay online you can do so on
Nick Holmes' infolaw site. You can also see what the
newsletter "looks like" on that site (although you will not be able to read the full articles unless
you have subscribed).
The price includes a printed copy. I will be pleased to provide THREE back issues of the printed newsletter without charge,
with any new subscription, and also access to ALL back issues on the web.
As above, I am happy to accept an order by email. I will invoice you with the initial material.
If you prefer to subscribe and pay online (rather than be invoiced) you can do so on
Nick Holmes' infolaw site. You can also see what the
newsletter "looks like" on that site (although you will not be able to read the full articles unless
you have subscribed).
Here are the main stories covered in the September/October issue:
1. New legal blogs are appearing thick and fast, and blogs on family law are attracting particular interest. There are at least 6 of these now, written by barristers or solicitors, and I invited them to write about why they are doing it, how they do it, and what sort of a response they are getting. Their contributions make very interesting reading.
Quick Summaries of Recent Issues (printed copies of these three will be provided free to new subscribers).
In the July/August issue we look at web 2.0 sites and how “social networking” works as well as some of the
legal issues involved. Domain names are part of the infrastructure of the internet but you may be a little
hazy about how they work; we provide a tutorial on these. We describe a new sort of integrated online marketing
which includes placing a video clip on YouTube, Google and Yahoo. We learn about elexica, Simmons & Simmons
marketing and client-based site. We look at outsourcing and offshoring as it extends beyond transcription
and into “real” legal work. Podcasting is not as hard as it sounds and we give a step by step guide of how
to do it. We hear about steady progress in e-conveyancing and we discover another legal “freebie” on Garden
Court Chambers website. And finally, we look at Virtual Chambers - are they the model of the future?
Comments from Subscribers
Keep the Newsletters coming. I'm a big fan!
We are enthusiastic readers of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers which we find very informative.
I have found it to be an invaluable resource.
The newsletter is a brilliant way to stay updated and connected to all the latest issues and
developments. Please, definitely continue our subscription and I am sure you will keep up the good work.
It's always interesting and informative - and written in the sort of plain English that I can pass on to the non-geeky
lawyers in our practice.
I find the newsletter very interesting and informative. Thank you for all your efforts.
I do enjoy your newsletter very much - it is certainly the best of its kind that I have ever read.
May you continue with this, and your other great publications, for very many years to come.
I think the newsletter is great.
* Thanks for your journal which (somewhat to my surprise since I am not particularly IT focussed)
I get more out of than other.
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Multiple Use Licence
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do lots of photocopying, or all of these,
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