Unit No. 1 eLaw: An overview
- Course procedures
- Expectations
- Introduction to the subject
- How past changes in the
technology of law that have affected how law works and is thought
about
- Some examples, domestic
and foreign, of the types of change now underway
- eLaw in relation to
eGovernment (and cyberlaw)
- The public values at
stake
- Transparency - in
relation to other values
- Access (for whom?)
- Cost
- Timeliness
- Fairness and equity
- Public control of
public functions
Unit No. 2 Judicial
opinion dissemination and case law access
- The evolving legal information
marketplace
- The range of behaviors
and public/private relationships
- Some key issues for courts
and public law reporters
- Vendor and medium neutral
citation
- Copyright and other
forms of control over redistribution
- Selecting the important
decisions (published/unpublished, precedential/non-precedential)
- Quality assurance (from
copy editing and cite checking to privacy policy compliance)
- Post-release revision
- Official status and
public archiving
- Meeting the judiciary's
own legal information needs
Unit No. 3 Dissemination
of codified law (statutes, administrative regulations, and municipal ordinances)
- The legal information marketplace
(cont'd)
- How codes differ from
decisions
- The range of behaviors
and public/private relationships
- How the information needs
of those responsible for enacting legislation and making regulations
influence the dissemination options
- Some key issues for legislatures
and agencies
- Copyright and other
forms of control over redistribution
- Designation of a particular
version or versions as "official"
- Treatment of time
- Distinctive issues surrounding
municipal codes
Unit No. 4 The input
side of legal institutions
- A different set of incentives
and purposes
- Some early examples of
e-filing
- Required reports and payments
- Application for public
benefits, licenses, permits and the like
- Initiation of judicial
or administrative proceedings (e-filing)
- Public access to electronic
records
- Issues of incompatibility
- Proprietary versus open
systems
Unit No. 5 The communication
of legal materials, policies, and standard practices within public law-making
and law-applying bodies
- Agencies as integrators
- SSA
- U.S. Department of Labor
- State consumer protection
agencies
- Communicating policy and
conforming practice in large agency settings
- Quality assurance
- Systems for improving judicial
performance in real-time
Unit No. 6 The conduct
of legal proceedings
- Civil and criminal trials
- Multi-media hearing
or trial presentations
- Virtual proceedings
- Administrative adjudications
- Teleconference hearings
- Electronic capture of
proceedings
- Administrative deliberation
and public comment on proposed rules (eRulemaking)
Unit No. 7 Impact of
eLaw on the work of lawyers and structure of law firms
- Virtual law firms
- Knowledge management and
exchange
- New forms and sources of
competition
- Client empowerment
Unit No. 8 Putting
eLaw in a comparative perspective
- Federalism as a variable
- US, Canada, and Norway
- eLaw and the EU
- Developing countries and
eLaw
Unit No. 9 Speculations
about the future
- ADR and ODR, in competition
with the courts
- Erosion of geographically
limited public authority
- Digital media and the public
conception of law
- Digital media and the
role of the legal profession
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