Year: 2008
The law publishers and Web 2.0
(with James Mullan) Web 2.0 has revolutionised publishing. Technologies like blogs, wikis and RSS have made the publishing process so easy that countless millions are now publishers and yet more millions are contributors. And no longer is publishing simply about broadcasting a message one to many; with the facility for users to respond and contribute, […]
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Towards Gov 2.0
Democracy – as Abraham Lincoln famously defined it – is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Hitherto, we’ve been able to exercise our democratic rights only at the ballot box, by lobbying our MP and perhaps in public demonstrations. Can Gov 2.0 – the application of Web 2.0 to […]
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The impact of social networking on firms
I recently attended “Enterprise 2.0 – The evolution of collaboration in your business”, an Ark Group conference looking at how the collaborative technologies underlying Web 2.0 can be used within organisations. There was a good mix of attendees, with a few from legal, but others from the pharmaceutical, media, communications, finance and other sectors. There […]
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The ultimately flexible (virtual) law firm
Delia Venables interviews Heather Rose Towcester Family Law Practice specialises in giving legal help and advice across a range of family law issues, in areas including divorce, domestic violence and abuse, children related issues, separation and maintenance. Based in Towcester, Northamptonshire, TFLP is friendly, approachable, professional and exclusively home based, meeting with clients to discuss […]
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Criminal Law Week acquired by Sweet & Maxwell
Sweet & Maxwell (via Thomson Reuters) has acquired leading independent legal publication Criminal Law Week which provides digests of case decisions and new legislation to 15,000 criminal law practitioners. The online version gives access to a database of 12,000 digests of cases, statutes and statutory instruments. There are extensive search tools as well as links […]
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Technology for today’s courtroom
Bringing a case to court has become increasingly complex. Cases are taking longer, requiring more information and faster access to this data, and controlling costs is a constant challenge. Today, a range of litigation technologies and services are available that can help improve efficiency, reduce costs and enhance argument. The story of Merrill Legal Solutions […]
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Quick and easy custom search with Google
Some 18 months ago Google launched its Custom Search service (still in beta) that enables you to create a custom search engine (CSE) focussing on anything up to 2,000 specified URLs. The rationale is that, despite its undoubtedly sophisticated algorithms, even with a carefully crafted search, Google will always return results near the top that […]
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Protecting reputation on the web
We live in increasingly challenging technological times which are impacting the way litigation lawyers work. This article notes several ways in which the web impacts reputation and considers practical steps which can be taken to protect it. How the web impacts reputation Exposure through search engines Search engines reveal how individuals have been conducting themselves. […]
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Irish Law Society allows first online CPD
First CPD is a new website for Irish Lawyers providing CPD online. The concept of obtaining CPD online has only just been approved by the Irish Law Society and even now it only allows 2 of the 10 hours requirement to be obtained online. However, Irish independent publisher Bart Daly, who runs First Law, which […]
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Out of the box intranets: Intranet DASHBOARD
It’s the classic IT “build or buy” decision when it comes to deciding on a law firm’s approach to an intranet. What on the surface would appear to be the “safe” route is to go with Microsoft SharePoint. But that’s a bit like saying “no-one ever got fired for buying IBM” a couple of decades […]
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SharePoint and web accessibility
March’s article on SharePoint explained in some detail the “powerful and rather scary” services of the latest version. I believe that using SharePoint to publish to the web or to an intranet may contravene the Disability Discrimination Act, as the system doesn’t publish in a manner that adheres to internationally-recognised accessibility guidelines. The accessibility guidelines […]
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Engaging with Web 2.0
Back in the early days of the internet, much of the debate within law firms was around whether they should have a website and, if so, then who was going to look at it. Was it even appropriate for lawyers to have a website, was it demeaning for professionals to use these types of technologies […]
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