Moritz Legal Information Blog

A good commentary in the Legal Times from Debra Bruno about the legal profession's reliance on billable hours and the effect that has on attorneys.

I attended the Back to the Future of Legal Research conference , hosted by Chicago-Kent College of Law, on Friday (5/18). The conference covered a variety of topics including digital legal information, developing legal research programs, new tools for legal research, and many other related issues. Conference handouts and podcasts of the sessions are now available online .

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President Bush issued an Executive Order today barring contigency fee arrangements with outside lawyers and expert witnesses who work on behalf of the U.S. government. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) calls the order " a major step forward in the fight to change America's out-of-control lawsuit climate ." The ILR would like to see similar reform at the state level, in places such as Ohio . I have not seen a response yet from the ILR's friends at the American Association for Justice , but I would be surprised if they do not have a contrary opinion on the matter. UPDATE : Jon Haber, from the American Association for Justice, says that the Executive Order "removes from the federal government a powerful tool successfully used by state attorneys general to prosecute wrongdoers and hold them accountable in our courts." (From WSJ Law Blog ).

Robert Ambrogi is reporting that the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has launched a wiki: The National Law Journal today reports that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has launched its own wiki , a first for the federal judiciary. The wiki will allow lawyers and judges to post and change notes on procedure and practice. It launches with the complete contents of the Seventh Circuit Practitioner's Handbook. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook, who spearheaded the project, told the NLJ: "The goal is to concentrate on procedure (in both the court of appeals and the district courts) but not to cover substance. We aren't interested in comments about the meaning of ERISA or the Internal Revenue Code and will take down any pages that go beyond the scope of practice and procedure (including jurisdic What's a wiki? Read all about it .

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Librarians' Internet Index describes the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Electronic Reading Room : This site provides "an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents. Because of CIA's need to comply with the national security laws of the United States, some documents or parts of documents cannot be released to the public." Includes collections in areas such as Vietnam and China, and specific documents such as a report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD).