A Page on the Web, published in the Solicitors Journal, June 1997.
The Lawyer
The Lawyer has launched a site at www.the-lawyer.co.uk. This site complements the weekly issues of The Lawyer newspaper and contains all the week’s news and features, updated every Tuesday morning, as well as all the announcements and recruitment advertisements that regularly appear in The Lawyer. There are also a number of extra features on the site which are designed to make it more than just a mirror image of the printed issue. Key among these is a database of all the articles and features that have appeared in The Lawyer since 2 August 1994 which can be searched for keywords.
EGi Property Law Service
Estates Gazette‘s web presence EGi has added a Property Law Service supposedly at www.propertylaw.co.uk, but try 194.201.29.83 for the present. Updated daily, the service is for property lawyers, barristers, chartered surveyors and anyone else who needs to keep abreast of the latest developments in property law. The Property Law Service is a subscription service, but can be accessed free of charge for a limited period. The service features Next Day Court Reporting, Estates Gazette Law Reports, Planning Law Reports, Case Summaries, Estates Gazette Archive, EG Legal Notes, EG Planning Notes, Statutory Materials, Lands Tribunal Decisions andWrits service. Coming soon are an E-mail directory of subscribers, Law firms Directory and Who’s Who of Property Lawyers.
The Bar
The Bar Council has set up shop at www.barcouncil.org.uk. For those of us who need to know, the Council describes itself as providing a regulatory framework, requiring work on complaints and discipline, ethics and standards, education and training, equal opportunities and pupillage. It also publishes guidance on a range of other subjects such as Practice Management, Health and Safety and Taxation.
And if we need to brief a barrister, we now have the definitive source in the Bar Directory at www.ftlawandtax.com/bar/index.html. Published as a joint venture between the General Council of the Bar and FT Law & Tax, this is the only official directory of UK chambers. Search using five criteria: by town or county, by specialism, by barrister’s name, by foreign bar and by language. The format of the results is: the location of the chambers, its name, the name of the head of the chambers and a telephone number. If the search includes a foreign bar the name of the barrister who is the bar-member in any chambers found will be displayed in preference to that of the head of the chambers. If a barrister’s name is specified among the criteria this barrister’s name will be displayed in preference to either of the other possible names.
Lawyers worldwide
An established directory of lawyers worldwide is Kimes International Law Directory also from FT Law & Tax, now on the web at www.ftlawandtax.com/kimes/index.html. This annual (sic) international directory provides reliable and up-to-date information on approximately 650 law firms and chambers throughout the world, covering nearly 250 countries. Practitioners can use a combination of search requirements for an individually tailored result. Each entry includes: country and city heading and hypertext link to relevant country notes; names, addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, email and other communications; types of work undertaken; names of partners; identity of consultants; addresses of any branch offices or agents; languages spoken; and relevant reading
Butterworths
Butterworths has relaunched its website at www.butterworths.co.uk which was beginning to look a bit long in the tooth and in need of updating. There is an online catalogue which comprises detailed entries of all Butterworths titles currently in print or scheduled for publication within the next four months. It can be browsed either by title or, less directly, by subject category. A daily news and cases digest and legal links page are also provided. The new site shows a commitment to regular updating, though significant content has yet to be delivered.
Accessing justice
The government has recently announced that it will be costing out the far-reaching Access to Justice’ reforms proposed last year by Lord Woolf. The new Lord Chief Justice will also be reviewing the latest system for computer-aided transcription (CAT). Two such systems are those from Smith Bernal International www.smithbernal.com and Sellers Imago www.sellersimago.com. See the article Wig, Gown and Laptop’ in Guardian Online at online.guardian.co.uk/computing/866040142-court.html.
Net judgments
The Lord Chancellor’s Department is adding significant judgments to its website at www.lcd.gov.uk/lcdhome.htm.
Pitman Training Ltd & another v Nominet UK & another at ../scott.htm is a judgment of Sir Richard Scott (The Vice-Chancellor) on 22 May 1997, being the first legal ruling on Internet domain names in the United Kingdom. This case centered around the use of the domain name pitman.co.uk, initially registered by Pearson Professional Limited (PPL), but subsequently (somehow) re-delegated to and used by Pitman Training Limited (PTC). PPL requested Nominet UK to return the name to them for use, under the first-come, first-served rules. Nominet UK transferred the name, and in doing so cut off PTC’s email. PTC obtained a temporary order restoring their email and brought this case to attempt to regain ownership of the name. Justice Scott ruled against PTC and affirmed the first-come first-served nature of domain names.
19 June saw Mr Justice Bell delivering a summary of his 4000-page judgment in the McLibel trial, McDonald’s Corporation & McDonald’s Restaurants Limited v Helen Marie Steel & David Morris, published at ../mclsum2.htm. This longest-running trial in UK legal history was a complete waste of many people’s time and our money, and while McDonalds were successful on most counts, they have emerged from this marathon with Egg McMuffin(TM) on their faces.
Commission and prosecution
The Law Commission is now online at www.gtnet.gov.uk/lawcomm/homepage.htm. There you can find out more about the Commission; see details of the law currently being reviewed by the Commission in the areas of Common Law, Company & Commercial Law, Criminal Law, Property & Trust Law, Statute Law; and browse or download the summaries and full text of the Commission’s recent publications.
The Crown Prosecution Service is also now in cyberspace at www.cps.gov.uk. However, the first page I accessed had so many graphics it took several minutes to load. It was only out of a duty to you, the reader, that I stayed the course. Nothing exciting to report. I rest my case.
