Justis Publishing e-Bulletin October 2005

Justis Linking Solutions

How can you add value to in-house content without adding huge costs?

An increasing number of law firms and other organisations are investing in a variety of knowledge management solutions. These organisations appreciate the value of organising their vast collections of internal and external information sources and linking them together. The result is the inclusion of a mechanism for linking to external information resources in a number of these systems. However, much of the linking is still performed manually and therefore the costs involved are too high to justify adding links from anything but core internal knowhow (typically about 10% of the information published by the firm).

Justis Publishing is now offering a reference linking service to organisations wishing to add value to their internal information. This is done through the insertion of links to cited documents found on the Internet, whether they are freely available or on subscription based sites. As many of the Justis Publishing reference linking processes are automated, the cost is far less than the cost of completing the task manually.

There are virtually thousands of additional useful documents, particularly bulletins and newsletters produced by information professionals and Professional Support Lawyers that would be greatly enhanced by linking technology. Readers could simply click on a citation within the text, and would be taken directly to the full text of the cited document.

This solution is also very effective in the academic sector where reading lists are increasingly published on an institution's intranet for use by students and staff. By linking directly from those lists to the documents they refer to, the user experience is greatly enhanced and the use and value of the information subscriptions held by the university or college is subsequently increased. Given the volume of references contained within any one document, performing this function manually would be impractical and costly.

As an introduction to this service, Justis Publishing would like to invite readers to email a Word document containing UK and EU case and legislation references which we will then process and send back to you with fully incorporated links.

Processed documents will be returned very quickly, however if there is a significant number of samples, it may take a few days to process them all. To keep the wait to a minimum please select documents no longer than 20 pages.

Please do not forward any confidential documentation without including a Non-disclosure Agreement which will promptly be returned to you. Sample documents and any other enquiries should be sent to communications@justis.com

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Justis PDF Case Reports

As societies evolve technologically, so do the industries thriving within them. Of particular interest is the legal community. In an industry that is based on precedent and is surrounded by traditional values and procedures, a growing number of barristers, solicitors and legal researchers are adopting more modern practices. They are becoming more technologically proficient (and dependent) in their search for, and use of, legal information. As a result, legal proceedings are slowly being forced to adapt and must incorporate these new technologies that are sparking such a strong debate in the legal world.

This debate is of great significance to barristers and solicitors alike as they are often uncertain which document format is acceptable for presentation in court - an exact reproduction (photocopy) of the original or an electronic reproduction. This increased confusion is due to the uncertainty over whether or not a particular Judge, adjudicator or court will allow the use of these electronic case reports. Both sides of this debate present convincing arguments either for or against electronic reproductions.

On the one hand, the practice direction by Lord Woolf, CJ indicates that electronic case reports are in fact, perfectly acceptable for use in court:

3.2 It will in future be permissible to cite a judgment reported in a series of reports, including those of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, by means of a copy of a reproduction of the judgment in electronic form that has been authorised by the publisher of the relevant series, provided that (1) the report is presented to the court in an easily legible form (a 12-point font is preferred but a 10 or 11-point font is acceptable) and (2) the advocate presenting the report is satisfied that it has not been reproduced in a garbled form from the data source. In any case of doubt the court will rely on the printed text of the report (unless the editor of the report has certified that an electronic version is more accurate because it corrects an error contained in an earlier printed text of the report).

On the other hand, there are Judges who continue to insist that only exact copies or photocopies of the original text of case reports will do.

But there is a middle ground - PDF case reports from Justis.com.

An Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) is typically a read-only document and is an exact copy of the original document, spreadsheet or, in this instance, case report created by using Acrobat Distiller, the PDF writer software or an electronic scanner. On Justis.com, original case reports have been scanned and converted into PDF documents thus providing the original appearance, pagination, typeface, graphics (if any) and layout of case reports. This leaves no room for uncertainty - PDF case reports from Justis.com are, in fact, acceptable for presentation in court.

And because they are not photocopies there are no dark shadows, no blurry text, and no words inadvertently cut off during the photocopying process. Just a flawless replica of the original, making Justis PDF case reports an indispensable advancement for the legal industry.

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New JustCite Quickstart Guides

We have recently improved our JustCite Quickstart Guides. They are available in both double sided A4 and single sided A3 tri-fold sizes. You can obtain your Quickstart Guide in hard copy by sending us an email. We ask that you please specify A4 or A3 as well as how many copies you'd like to receive. Alternatively, you can download an electronic copy of the A4 version here.

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Justis Publishing Takes the Plunge

On October 9th, 2005 a group of eight Justis Publishing employees took part in a very impressive charity event for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

"The RNIB is the leading UK charity offering practical support and information to anyone with a sight problem. Our pioneering work helps - not just with Braille, talking books and computer training but with imaginative and practical solutions to everyday challenges. Your support helps us rebuild lives devastated by sight loss."

RNIB

To illustrate their passion for the cause the Justis Team (pictured) performed an abseil off of the top of Centre Point, the very large office building at Tottenham Court Road in London

The Justis Abseiling Team

One of London's tallest buildings, Centre Point is 117m (385 ft) tall and stands at the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road.

Emma Talmage on her way down

To date, the Justis Team has raised £2371.42 for the charity and they're still going!

For more information on the RNIB and how you can help visit: http://www.rnib.org.uk.

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Title Talk

English Reports is the oldest collection of the most authoritative, comprehensive law reports in publication. Over 100,000 of the most important cases reported between 1220 and 1973 compiled into one collection, the English Reports is an essential resource for all commonwealth barristers and solicitors.

This indispensable title offers:

• Comprehensive coverage
• Authority
• Full-text searching
• Full cross-referencing

These reports include the added feature of exact replica PDf files available for printing, emailing and downloading.

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News "In Brief"

Justis Publishing will be exhibiting at the Bar Conference 2005 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on October 15th, 2005. Visit us at Stand 18 for demonstrations and information about our products and services. We will be handing out a FREE A4 Leather Conference Folder to the first 100 delegates to visit our stand. But remember, supplies are limited, so come see us as early as possible. We will also be holding a business card draw for a Bollinger Champagne & Pate gift box. Come and see us and drop off your business card for your chance to win.

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Hints & Tips

When searching Cases on Justis.com covering a specific subject area (ie. clinical negligence) you can filter out any earlier cases that might not be relevant and that you do not want returned in your search results. You can do this by typing "after" and the year you wish to use as your benchmark. For example, "after 1995" will provide you with a list of cases that occurred in the last 10 years. You can also search "before 1995" and it will provide you with all cases in your selected database that occurred before 1995.