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.
Publications and blogs
The Internet, Warts and All: Free Speech, Privacy and Truth, by Paul Bernal, Senior Lecturer in Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Media Law at the University of East Anglia, seeks to explain the internet information ecosystem, busting myths, pointing out why attempts at regulation have failed and suggesting the way forward. Published by Cambridge University […]
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Legal ebooks: who needs them?
Back in November 2012, I described in the Newsletter how, since ebooks had hit the big time, the law publishers had enthusiastically responded. Where are we now? In terms of the general picture, ebook sales have recently plateaued, though reports of its demise are premature. According to Simon Rowberry, writing in The Bookseller: “On the […]
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Legislation.gov.uk: finally up to date?
Most types of primary legislation (eg Acts, Measures, NI Orders in Council) on legislation.gov.uk are intended to be held in “revised” form, meaning that amendments made by subsequent legislation are incorporated into the text. Most types of secondary legislation are not revised and are held only in the form in which they were originally made. […]
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Open law: digital common property
Open law is the idea that public legal information should be freely available to everyone to access, use and republish. The current position in the UK differs completely as between legislation and case law. Legislation In 1996 HMSO started publishing primary and secondary legislation online, “as published” – so only accurate as at the day […]
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The role of technology in legal advice and assistance
This article first appeared in Legal Web Watch June 2018. Legal Web Watch is a free email service which complements the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. To receive Legal Web Watch regularly sign up here. Two recent reports consider in some detail the application of technology in delivering legal advice and assistance, viewed through different prisms. […]
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Algorithms in law
Algorithms as artificial persons In Algorithms and the Law, a paper by Jeremy Barnett, Adriano Soares Koshiyama and Philip Treleaven, the authors discuss the emergence of algorithms as artificial persons and the need to formally regulate them. It aims to start discussion in the legal profession regarding the legal impact of algorithms on companies, software […]
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Online justice news
The new HMCTS divorce online service has moved out of Beta and is now online at www.gov.uk/apply-for-divorce. It offers prompts and guidance to assist people in completing their application. The whole process can be completed online, including payment and uploading supporting evidence. The service has already contributed to a 95 per cent drop in the […]
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The Law Society Guide to Good Practice
The “fully updated” second print edition of The Law Society Guide to Good Practice includes 100 current Law Society practice notes, plus details of useful contacts and further resources, an index and tables of citations. It is 972 pp, weighs 1.5 kg, occupies 4.3 cm of shelf space and costs £60. All 119 current Law […]
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Do I still need to use the www in URLs?
The answer to this question is, of course, “It depends.” It depends on the context. First, let’s get some terminology out of the way. We are all familiar with a domain name, like example.com. The bit in front of a domain name, www or whatever, is a subdomain. The domain name without any prefix is […]
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What we learned about the internet in 2017 (1): Big Tech
It’s already past the season for annual predictions which have become a staple of the legal tech media. Generally these predictions rely heavily on the direction taken by technologies in the last year, so I thought it would be more fruitful to look at what we collectively learned in 2017, without any added crystal ball-gazing. […]
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What we learned in 2017 (2): AI, robots and social media
AI and robots in law practice From Brian Inkster: AI continued to be a de rigueur slot in legal technology conferences during 2017. But delegates inevitably left these conferences none the wiser as to what they are actually supposed to do with AI in their own legal practices or how much it might cost them. […]
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What we learned in 2017 (3): The courts
The Online Court From Paul Magrath: The Online Court is probably the most significant element in the massive ongoing HMCTS Reform programme, and the one which will have the greatest long term consequences in changing how justice is accessed and administered. The year began with a lecture at Gresham College by Joshua Rozenberg, based on […]
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