New Zealand Law Librarians Group Inc
Visible Justice explored issues on access to the law and to government for librarians, the legal profession and all New Zealand citizens at the beginning of the twenty first century.
Papers from the 2002 Conference are summarised below. Follow the links to download a PDF version of the paper or zipped PowerPoint files. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (free to download here) to view PDFs; you will need WinZip and Microsoft PowerPoint to view PowerPoint presentations (also available as PDF files).
OPENING SPEECH
Margaret Wilson MP
Dowload a PDF version of the Minister’s Opening Speech.
FACING THE CHALLENGES: THE NEW PARADIGM IN LEGAL PUBLISHING
John Barker, Legal Market Product Development Consultant, San Francisco, USA
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Clients are demanding that legal services be delivered over the internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Globalization requires teams of lawyers working together virtually around the globe to solve legal problems. The technology for re-using internal legal knowledge and combining it with external information resources is improving. Emerging providers of legal services are bypassing law firms and commercial legal publishers to integrate legal content into the workflow and business of customers.
E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES IN NEW ZEALAND
Brendan Boyle, Director, E-government Unit, State Services Commission, New Zealand
The eGovernment programme began formally in July 2000. The focus to date has been largely on building foundations for eGovernment, with the expectation that the public sector will build on these foundations. This presentation will provide insights into where the eGovernment programme in New Zealand is going and where it might take the public sector in the next two years and beyond.
INSTITUTIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION: BREAKING NEW GROUND
Professor Gael McDonald, Dean, Faculty of Business, UNITEC, Auckland, New Zealand
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This presentation seeks to examine the macro and specific trends that are impacting to change the current business environment. Within this context we will examine the terminology of an entre- and intre-preneurship, with particular emphasis on the growth of women entrepreneurers. A key aspect of this presentation will be a discussion around the implications for both individuals and organisations that wish to respond to the challenges of a new business environment and the need for increased innovation and entrepreneurship.
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE: THE REALITY OF CITIZEN’S ACCESS TO LEGAL INFORMATION
David Russell, Chief Executive, Consumers’ Institute of NZ Inc
Anarchy has an appeal, particularly when compared with some of the more arcane pieces of law that have been passed by governments over the years. In theory, they should protect citizens against exploitation, both criminal and civil. Too frequently they obscure. Further, they tend to be reactive – a wrong against society or a group in society, surfaces and the eventual response is a legal sanction against the perpetrators and protection for the victims. Usually the law is too late.
LEGAL XML – A PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVE
Allison Stanfield, e.Law Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia and Co-Chair, LegalXML Australia
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Download a PDF version of Sample Document 1
Download a PDF version of Sample Document 2
The mission of Legal XML, is to develop standards for electronic legal documents. To date, a recommended Legal XML standard for court filing has been issued, which has been implemented by some US courts and others are considering the application of the standard to their jurisdictions. Other standards that are in progress within Legal XML will also be considered, such as standards for transcripts, contracts, legislation and judgments.
LEGAL WELL BEING: THE FUTURE OF LEGAL INFORMATION ACCESS Professor Richard Susskind, Gresham Professor of Law, IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England. Video-conference chaired by the Rt Hon, Dame Sian Elias, Chief Justice of New Zealand
The legal world is on the brink of a fundamental transformation that is being precipitated by existing and emerging information technologies. It will be claimed that legal practice and the administration of justice will be profoundly changed over the next two decades or so, largely in ways that will be of benefit to citizens.
At the outset, I will suggest some techniques for thinking about the future – how to look ahead in a practical and not science-fictional way. I will argue that we are currently in a transitional phase between a print-based industrial society and an IT-based information society. Once we have moved fully into the era of the IT-based information society, many of our central economic and social institutions will have changed substantially. There is no reason whatsoever to suppose that the law and legal institutions will be immune from the shifts that are affecting all other aspects of society.
I will discuss the main ways in which legal practice is likely to alter in the future; and, most controversially, the move towards the systematisation and commoditisation of routine legal work. I will introduce my ideas about the huge untapped “latent legal market” – unmet legal need that conventional legal service cannot handle but which IT-enabled service will satisfy. In relation to the courts and judges, I will ask: is court a service or a place? I will conclude that, in the future, there will be a place for ODR (online dispute resolution) and conventional judges.
More generally, I will propose that in all aspects of legal life, we will need a balance of “clicks and mortals” (the title, incidentally, of my next book), a blend of conventional human-based service complemented by IT-based service.
ACCESS TO CUSTOMARY LAW: NEW ZEALAND ISSUES
Her Honour Judge Caren Wickliffe, Maori Land Court, and Paul Meredith, Te Matahauariki Institute
Download a PDF version of Caren Wickliffe’s paper
Download a PDF version of Paul Meredith’s PowerPoint presentation
Download a PDF version of a PowerPoint presentation on the Maori Land Information System
Download a PDF version of a PowerPoint presentation on Maori Land Online
Judge Caren Wickliffe will review definitions of customary law and identify different sources of Maori customary law. Following on from that she will demonstrate ways of working with Maori customary law by reference to the work of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Maori Land Court.
Paul Meredith of Te Matahauariki Institute will discuss their project of compiling a reference work, named Te Matapunenga, which will bring together and present in accessible form the historical uses and meanings of selected terms and concepts of Maori customary law.
VIRTUAL LEGAL COLLECTIONS – BREAKING LOCAL AND NATIONAL BOUNDARIES
Jules Winterton, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London, England
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This presentation concentrates on work undertaken in the UK on creating virtual research collections, focusing on the national context and the higher education sector where much of the innovation has taken place. Some specific examples of UK initiatives designed to transform the storage and transmission of information will be discussed.
Collaborative programmes associated with these initiatives are used as examples and involve work on metadata and resource discovery, digitisation and digital archiving. Reference is made in particular to legal information projects and resources.
FEAST OR FAMINE: LEGAL PRACTITIONERS’ ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Panel of legal practitioners and researchers, including:
Strategic partnerships: your vision’s pathway to reality – Mary-Rose Russell
Download a PDF version of Mary-Rose Russell’s PowerPoint presentation
Providing access to Pacific Law: a work in progress – Peter Murgatroyd