Author: Nick Holmes
Nick Holmes is Editor of this Newsletter. He is a publishing consultant specialising in the legal sector and is Managing Director of legal web services company infolaw Limited. Email nickholmes@infolaw.co.uk. Twitter @nickholmes.
Whatever happened to Twitter? Or, how not to treat your X
In 2022, Twitter peaked at 368 million active users. It was the platform of choice for journalists, politicos and commentators across most disciplines, enabling users to curate their own news feeds and engage in informed debate, without significant interference from advertising or unwanted attention. Twitter was not, by some measure, the largest social media site, […]
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Artificial Intelligence Contractual Clauses from SCL
The SCL AI Group have released their Artificial Intelligence Contractual Clauses document which is free to access and share under a Creative Commons Licence. The development and use of AI will increase significantly over the next few years. AI systems will therefore increasingly become the subject matter of transactional contracts. AI technologies create new and unique risks which will […]
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Towards a new benchmark of digital open justice
As reported here, in April 2022 The National Archives launched its Find Case Law service, and 6 months on John Sheridan of TNA described the progress that had been made. Meanwhile, ICLR systematically monitored the publication of listed cases by TNA over its first 12 months of operation. The resulting report, Publication of listed judgments: […]
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Charles Christian, legal tech legend
Caroline Hill, Editor of the Legal IT Insider, has let us know of the untimely death of Charles Christian, its founder and Godfather of Legal Technology. From the October 2008 issue 213 of LTI: “In October 1978 … Insider editor Charles Christian wrote his first article on legal technology. It was about a solicitors accounts […]
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LSSA white paper on procuring legal software
The Legal Software Suppliers Association has published a white paper on the procurement of legal software, the steps to take, and pitfalls to avoid. The following is a summary of factors to consider. 1. Deciding to change supplier Unless there has been a compelling reason (e.g., the software is no longer supported) why you must change your […]
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Open case law is here at last
From today judgments of the superior courts of England and Wales have a new, official home at The National Archives (TNA) which has now taken over the HMCTS publishing contract from BAILII. The Case Law website at https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk is dubbed an “Alpha”. Essentially it is a work in progress and it is best not to […]
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Web3: blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs – where will it end?
There’s a buzz currently around Web3. “What’s that?”, you ask. You’ve doubtless heard of cryptocurrencies and perhaps now also about blockchain and NFTs. These are all part of the same picture, but how do they relate to each other and where will they lead us? The 1-2-3 of the web Web 1.0 was the term […]
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Electronic Evidence and Electronic Signatures
The 5th edition of Electronic Evidence and Electronic Signatures updates this well-established practitioner text. Stephen Mason and Daniel Seng have brought together a team of experts in the field to provide an exhaustive treatment of electronic evidence and electronic signatures. This edition continues to follow the tradition in English evidence text books by basing the […]
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Court judgments to be publicly available from The National Archives
As announced in June 2021, from April 2022 significant court judgments past and present from the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Crown Court, the House of Lords, the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, and other courts and tribunals, will be available as public records from The National Archives (TNA). At present, there are […]
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The Internet for Lawyers (reprise)
I have been writing about the internet for lawyers since 1995 when it first entered the public consciousness and the first few legal websites were born. These early writings, and many since, are published on my blog Binary Law. In 2007 I joined Delia Venables editing the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers, launching the Newsletter online […]
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The internet as a commons
Since the beginning of the “information revolution” there has built up a tension between the rights of the owners of information and other intellectual property and the practical ability and desire of others to exploit that property using the developing technologies. This tension heightened considerably with the popularisation of the internet and the web as […]
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Mapping legal innovation
Innovation has, for lawyers, become an area of intense interest. It is likewise a concern and an increasing imperative among lawyers. With the legal services industry undergoing major economic and technological changes − such as digitalization, open data, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence − law firms and legal departments have no other option than to […]
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