INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
June 30, 2002
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #73 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is send an e-mail to ilrw-subscribe@topica.com. It’s free!
And away we go…..
News Update
Teoma Gets into the Toolbar Business
Following Google’s lead, Teoma introduced a free toolbar that allows you to search Teoma directly from your web browser, without first navigating to the siteAnd While We’re On the Subject…
Merriam-Webster also introduced a toolbar, so you can look up dictionary definitions while you’re surfing the Web. There’s also a Thesaurus lookup.And in response to my Scientific Calculator site last week, my friend M.A. pointed out that we don’t need to wander so far from home to get a scientific calculator. Just go to Start|Accessories, then Calculator. Under the View menu, select Scientific – you’ll get something probably a lot more robust than the website I mentioned last week.
SETTLING ON THE INTERNET
If you’re involved in litigation, you know that a majority of lawsuits never see the inside of a courtroom. Rather, they are settled, whether by one-on-one negotiation, mediation, or some other dispute resolution process. The Internet has emerged as a resource not only for ADR materials, but for actually settling your lawsuit. This week we take a look at some of those sites.
First, an intro to alternative dispute resolution, for those not familiar with the area of law. The place to start, of course, is Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. There you’ll find a brief description of ADR and links to state and federal statutes and case law relating to ADR, as well as some great general links on the subject. More ADR info comes from the National Center for State Courts; This site hasn’t been updated in a while, but still contains some good information and worthwhile links to follow. It also provides a state-by-state summary of how each state deals with alternative dispute resolution. Another strictly informational page is provided by Duhaime.org.
If you’re interested in what’s going on in the world of alternative dispute resolution, there are several sites out there to help. ADRWorld provides some great news, but at a price. The home page has recent ADR news stories, but you have to pay to see them. There’s also an ADR library containing over 1,000 documents, but you’ll have to pony up $245/year to take a look at any of it. Another website that provides news and articles for free is Mediate.com -- this site has a wealth of information, and it seems to be more of a mediation “portal” than anything else. Discussion forums, hundreds of articles, and a library is available here – there’s just too much to mention. Check it out. Stephen Marsh, a Texas lawyer, has a page of useful ADR resources, including essays on mediation, and a sign-up for a monthly newsletter on the subject.
Nowadays, it seems anyone who is tired of being a litigator (or any other type of lawyer, for that matter) adds “Mediator” to their business card. That’s one of the reasons so many ADR associations and educational programs have sprung up in recent years. The American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution is a good place to start; there are really some terrific resources here, including a guide on explaining mediation to your clients, papers and other publications, and information on policies and standards. There’s also a link to a recent report on “Ethical Guidelines for Settlement Negotiations.” Another recognized organization is the American Arbitration Association. Here you can find a variety of resources, including news/event information, forms, focus areas, rules and procedures, and even the ability to file your arbitration case online. Other ADR associations include the Association for Conflict Resolutionand the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution.
Many universities also offer ADR courses and other resources. Tops on the list is Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. The online site is essentially a brochure for the program, but one look and you can tell it’s pretty impressive. Two lesser-known universities have interesting pages to view: one is Willamette College of Law’s Center for Dispute Resolution, and the other is the Online Journal of Arbitration, Mediation, Negotiation and Complementary Dispute Resolution Techniques.One of the excellent links you can find there is a collection of summaries of ADR laws of selected states – this area is apparently updated regularly.
As you might imagine, ADR procedures differ by practice area. The federal government has an impressive (if slightly dated) selection of sites on dispute resolution in a federal context. The table of contents for “ADR and Settlement Programs in the Federal District Courts: A Sourcebook for Judges and Lawyers,” a 1996 manual, displays ADR rules for each of the federal district courts. A description of ADR programs by federal circuit is also available there. If you work regularly with governmental agencies and their employees, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Resource Guide is a must-have; it contains mediation techniques and practices for many governmental agencies. If you’re interested in business and securities mediation, check out NASD Dispute Resolution, or the Securities Arbitration Home Page. And for those of you with an international practice, InternationalADR provides links to conventions, laws, case law, commentary, and other useful information on worldwide dispute resolution.
Finally, let’s look at some services that actually allow you to settle your case online. I have no idea whether any of these sites are actually successful at resolving your dispute, but the concept is pretty cool. These sites include ussettle.com, Claimsettle, ClickNSettle, Intellicourt, and SquareTrade. SquareTrade provides all sorts of dispute resolution services, but focuses on disputes involving online purchases.
Have any of you submitted a case to an online settlement site? Do you know of other Internet ADR resources I didn’t mention? Drop me a line and I’ll mention it in an upcoming issue!
Help Desk
Another Word Tip: do you ever wonder why your spell-check consistently fails to flag a misspelled word? You may have accidentally added that word to your custom dictionary. To get rid of that bad word, just go to Tools, then Options, and select the Spelling and Grammar tab. Click on Custom Dictionaries, select the dictionary you want to modify (you will probably only have one), and you’ll get a list of the words you have stored in that dictionary. From there you can add or delete words at will.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me a line at tmighell@swbell.net– I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!
Legally Relevant – Sites on the InternetThis site is a great source of scientific information, made available in several formats. Using the search feature on the Main Page, just type in a scientific word or two and you’re off. A search for “Benzene” yields 171 documents, which you can order by citation, date, or usage. You can also limit your search to the articles where “Benzene” is mentioned in the title – that narrows it from 171 to 4. Click on an article title, and find an abstract, bibliography, a list of all citations, and more. Frankly, I don’t understand half of what I see on this site, but if you’re looking for scientific articles, this should be one of your starting points.
Directory of State Boards of Medical Examiners
Ah, a site I can understand. This is just a list of each Board of Medical Examiners in every state, along with an address, phone number, and website link. That’s it – that’s all you need, really.
Now THIS is a cool site. If you practice IP law or represent clients with trademark interests, you’ll appreciate TrademarkBots’ motto: “Let Our Bots Protect Your Marks.” The “Bot” you create will regularly search the web to make sure your clients’ trademarks are not being infringed somewhere. Your Bot will search domain name databases, publications and catalogs, message boards, the visible and invisible web, newspapers, Usenet, web feeds, trademark databases and specialty databases and report back to you on a regular basis. You can also purchase a one-time trademark search, if you’re not interested in regular updates. The only problem I have with this site is that I could not figure out the pricing – you get a free 21-day trial, but I have no idea what the price is if you want to continue the service.
The DLA website is intended as an online network of lawyers and law students with disabilities You can find message boards and chat rooms here, and a list of resources for attorneys with disabilities.
If you are a regular speaker at seminars or conferences, or if you just like going to meetings, this site is a goldmine of information. Search for a conference or convention by categories like Arts & Humanities, Business, Computers & Internet, Health, Society, Reference, Science & Technology, Education, and more. I found that the 11th World Congress of Psychophysiology will be in Montreal starting July 29th, along with a link to the Congress site where registration information was available.
Finally, some fun and useful sites:
If you ever wondered how much “stuff” was in an Oreo cookie, or how many brushes you could get out of a tube of toothpaste, check out “How Much Inside?”, a site suggested by M.A.
For those of you amused or outraged by a certain 9th Circuit Judge’s opinion this past week, Satire Wire has a story for you, as the United States searches for another “sponsor” for its Pledge of Allegiance.
Curious about the types of information websites collect on you? The AT&T Privacy Bird can help. Just download and install the program and it will warn you at websites that may sell your personal information or place you on mailing lists from which you’ll never be removed.
Well, that’s it for Issue #73– I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.
Tom Mighell
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