Law & Society

Regardless if you have been caught driving under the influence or you are being charged with the offense, do not disregard it as something harmless. In accordance with the laws at the time of your citation and the changes that may happen, you could end up facing substantial penalties. Stronger consequences and regulations have been enforced by the states yearly and you may end up paying a high fine or even be taken into custody. Not to mention, your driver's license may be suspended and you may actually end up with a criminal conviction if anyone was hurt during your incident. Majority of these can seriously affect your opportunities for employment irrespective of your future plans. Having a smart DUI attorney can make all the difference to helping your case proceed efficiently helping you come out in the best possible situation.
If you have been taken in for DUI and wish to find a good DUI attorney, you can search online to review various lawyers backgrounds, credentials, experiences, previous case histories and more. A San Diego DUI attorney advised to carefully select one according to their experience and recent cases as this will ensure they are up to date with the most recent DUI laws. If they are members of the National College of DUI Defense then it is significantly better.
Someone dedicated to working specifically on DUI cases in your area would be much better qualified to manage this type of incident over an inexperienced lawyer who has not successfully fought such cases previously. Knowledgeable DUI attorneys may be able to have your charges reduced, protect your license and on occasion can have them dismissed completely. This is not to say they advocate the practice of drunk driving, rather you will often be required to attend alcohol abuse classes.
A DUI attorney will be suited to control the case and also assist you if you are confronting a substance abuse problem. A local San Diego DUI lawyer confirmed that your honesty with your attorney will remain sacrosanct as it is based on client confidentiality. If your case is criminal or homicidal recklessness then your attorney will be able to advise you on the consequences of those charges on your life in relation to employment, future goals and more. If you have a serious drinking problem you will often be required to attend a mandatory alcoholic program or even enroll into rehab. If there is personal injury involved, the attorney may be entitled to charge a hefty fee which is a result of the more intricate proceedings involved.
Be sure to discuss the fees and payment conditions well in advance with your attorney. If you need to give a substantial deposit, you need to discuss why and be ready to pay. If you are certain of having found an experienced attorney it will likely be worth the money as an experienced lawyer probably will be able to get you out of trouble. However, it will ultimately be your responsibility to make an attempt to change your habits and stay off the wrong side of the legal system.

As with any new profession, it is difficult for inexperienced people to gain experience. This is also true with court reporters. Due to the nature of the business, many court reporting firms are hesitant to hire new court reporters fresh out of school unless they already have interning experience and have passed the requirements for certification either nationally or for their state. There are a variety of way
s that court reporting students can gain experience before joining the work force. While they may still be a little bit inexperienced, a helpful or ambitious employer willing to take on the responsibility as mentor can bridge the gap between inexperience and competency.

School
Court reporting students must pass many rigorous standards to graduate from school. Many schools adopt the requirements of state or federal guidelines, then raise the bar a bit higher. They must pass speed and accuracy tests before they are granted a diploma or certificate. Students must take timed tests in increments as they progress through school. They are usually prohibited from taking a higher level class until they have passed the speed for the level before it. Unlike conventional university or college courses, court reporting students will not graduate until all required classes are passed.

Internships
Part of the court reporting student curriculum is to have a specified number of hours of hands-on experience. An internship is the most common method of gaining these hours. Students are paired with a professional court transcription service, where they can learn the ropes up close from veterans. One of the most important parts of the internship is to shadow a professional court reporter, also called a court stenographer. They sit on depositions, hearings, trials and other types of proceedings. This gives them the experience of seeing what it is really like without the responsibility of having to create a certified transcript. While the intern may prepare a transcription of the proceedings, it is for practice only. The veteran stenographer produces the job as usual and offers many tips for the student, such as how to act, what to wear, where to park, and how to handle a variety of situation. The intern may also receive pointers on how to prepare a transcript faster and more accurately. Interns also learn the ropes from the firms office staff. They may be asked to work in the office for several hours and assist with answering the telephone, preparing schedules, binding transcripts and producing electronic formats.
New Reporters
Even after graduating from school and passing certification tests, some new court reporters may have a difficult time finding a job. It takes a patient, benevolent employer to hire someone just out of school. The first several assignments are usually dress rehearsals until the head of the company is comfortable with the proficiency of the new stenographer. This requires a number of assignments when they are sitting in with veterans and learning the nuances of the company, such as format, grammar and identification rules. Most rookies are kept off of medical malpractice and serious criminal cases until the firms decision-maker is comfortable with their ability to meet company standards.

If you were charged with a federal crime, would you know what to do or what to expect? There are quite a few legal steps that are taken and these are there so that you are not taken advantage of and that rights remain protected. Read this article to discover the procedure taken, when you have been accused of a federal crime.

Examples of federal crimes include Tax Evasion, Bank Fraud, Bribery, Computer and Hacking, Counterfeiting, Credit Card Fraud, Currency Schemes, Embezzlements and Extortion.

You may also be charged on Medicare Fraud or healthcare crimes, Major Thefts, Cyber and Crimes Against Children. Before you are charged on any of these crimes, however, you will be served with an arrest warrant.

After adjudication and evaluation of evidence, and or testimony against someone, a judge may issue a warrant of arrest against him. If you are the one being charged, the police authority will use its resources in locating you and arresting you.
Once arrested, you will be read the Miranda rights, before you are sent and �booked� at the police department. At the police department, you will be fingerprinted, photographed, moved through other procedures, and placed behind bars. You will stay there until a court hearing is made.

At this stage, you should have an attorney who will represent you at court or on any legal proceedings to protect your rights. Being charged with Federal crimes should be taken seriously, because they can cost your liberty once proven guilty.
Once you are in the custody of the police, you will be allowed to contact an attorney. In fact, it is your right to have a legal representation of your choice. Choosing a lawyer to defend your rights and to handle your case is very crucial. It can make a difference on the outcome of the charges made against you.
Your attorney will take the necessary actions. The court hearing usually takes place within 48 hours from the time of your arrest. If you have a lawyer, you can ask him to make the necessary actions in order to post bail at the court for your temporary freedom.

Before the trial, there will be an arraignment. It is the phase of legal procedure in which you enter a plea of the case. There are two pleas to submit to the Judge who will hear your case: guilty or not guilty.

Even if you are guilty, you can still enter a not guilty plea, if you believe that the evidence accumulated against you is insufficient to prove your guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
A plea of not guilty will lead to a trial in a court. During the legal proceeding, both the prosecutor and the defendants attorney will do their best to carry out their task- prosecutor proving your guilt and the defendants attorney proving your innocence.

After the legal proceeding, the Jury will have to decide your guilt, after the prosecutor and the defendants attorney have presented their evidence. If the Jury finds you guilty of the Federal crimes charged against you, the Judge will sentence you to imprisonment and issue other forms of punishment such as fines.

If you have been absolved of your accused crime, you walk out of the legal court as a free man, and you can take back the amount of bail you posted earlier. It is important, that you choose a lawyer who is adept at the crimes you have been charged with. He or she should be knowledgeable and experienced in handling federal crimes.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs is the act of operating a vehicle (may include bicycle, boat, airplane or tractor) after consuming alcohol or other drugs. DUI or DWI (driving while intoxicated) are synonymous terms that represent the criminal offense of operating (or in some jurisdictions merely being in physical control of) a motor vehicle while being under the influence of alcohol or drugs or a combination of both. These may appear as simple cases but these are also considered as criminal offenses in other countries.
For most countries, like in France, anyone who is convicted of injuring or killing someone while under the influence of alcohol can be heavily fined. Most states in the US have also implemented strict guidelines on sentencing in relation to DUI charges. Penalties may also include imprisonment, license suspension for years or for life in case of serious accidents.
In Atlanta, Georgia, penalties can also be severe and can last your entire life � even for just one conviction. That is why it is important for someone involved in DUI charges to get an expert Atlanta DUI lawyer to make sure that every aspect of the DUI is being done legally and all paperwork is filed in a timely manner.
Seeking the help of Atlanta DUI attorneys also help in making sure that anyone who has been arrested and convicted for DUI charges has every right granted to them. This is also to make sure that the arresting officer does not violate any rights and that he is following and doing everything in accordance with what is stated in the law.
In case of being involved in DUI cases, it is now easy to find Atlanta DUI lawyers who can help and give efficient assistance. It is only a matter of knowing and choosing whom to trust your case.

The relationship between landlord and tenant is not merely a contractual one it is also a human one. The first step in the tenant eviction procedure is that the landlord takes time to get to know his tenants and their problems in the hope of negotiating a solution. The landlord should find out why the tenant has failed to pay the rent. For example, the tenant may have financial difficulties, suffered redundancy, or a marriage break-up. In these cases it may be possible to secure Housing Benefit payments from the local authority to help pay the rent. It may be possible to agree a re-payment plan. A plan of action should include timescales for current rental payments and back payments of arrears. This may include accepting smaller rent payments with increasingly additional amounts to pay off the arrears over a period of time, or agreeing for the tenant to pay a lump sum at some future date to make up the arrears. Be realistic when drawing up any such repayment plan.

Nowadays, the collection agencies do not bother to dial for dollars because of the simple fact that it is not effective. Many Americans are actually petrified of being sued and just to avoid any courtroom drama, they go through any amount of torture. Well, this is far from the truth as there is a fair chance of the individual actually winning the credit card lawsuit. When a credit debt lawsuit is filed against a person, he has two options - first to allow the law firm to acquire a default judgment which is what most Americans do or fight back.

Well, you should go with the second option of fighting back especially, if you are falsely accused. You need not be a lawyer to defend yourself. If you believe in yourself and your case then there is nothing that can stop you from winning a credit debt lawsuit. You could even find a good attorney so that he can get rid of your credit card lawsuit in a short period of time, while you are free to pursue other matters. It should be noted that fighting a credit card lawsuit by yourself is a time-consuming agendum. You should not suffer any kind of injustice that banks or any collection agency do to you. You should always remember the fact that during the recession in 2008 it was you who had bailed out a lot of banks through the taxes that you pay by way of the government.

You should first understand who has filed a credit card lawsuit against you and why. Most probably a debt collector sues a person. These debt collectors, most of the times, file a case for the original creditors. Debt collectors tend to violate the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act because of the big reward and the fact that most people do not respond to the lawsuit notices. Also, it should be noted that most of the debt collectors do not have any kind of proper documentation. This is the basic reason why you can easily win a credit card lawsuit. A case needs documents to be heard fairly.

If you are planning to defend yourself in such frivolous lawsuits, then you should start by spending plenty of time in the law library where you can actually research about such cases and how to defend yourself. I'm sure you will get plenty of useful information while reviewing the documents competent attorneys use while defending credit card lawsuits. You may even have legal coaches or seek advice from friends for free. It is very important to have a legal adviser or a person who is well acquainted with the legal system and its processes.

As a conclusion, you do not always have to spend big amounts of money to hire a reputed attorney in any credit debt lawsuit which you can very well handle yourself.

How do we handle the ethical dilemmas of research on adults who can't give their informed consent? In a recent article in the journal Bioethics, ethicist Stefan Eriksson proposes a new approach to the dilemma of including dementia patients and others with limited decision making capabilities in research.

There is a need for research on persons with impaired decision making, for example dementia patients. Without their participation we stand to loose knowledge necessary for future treatments that can benefit these groups. There are ethical guidelines to guard their interests, but they are somewhat ill-guided, says Stefan Eriksson, associate professor of research ethics at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB).

"We are sometimes led to believe that these guidelines conclusively state that research on these groups is permitted only in exceptional cases, but they don't," he says.

According to Stefan Eriksson, today's guidelines are often arbitrary. On one hand, research that benefits some groups, for example one's own age group, is allowed. On the other hand, research that benefits other groups, for example one's own children or community is not allowed. The previous will or interests expressed by person has little or no weight in these situations.

Another problem that Stefan Eriksson highlights is that some ethical standards simply make no sense for these groups. For example, the idea of a 'minimal risk standard' builds on the idea that there is something ordinary or routine about the risks we take in our daily lives. Such risks should then be acceptable in research as well. This kind of reasoning doesn't work for someone with for example Alzheimer's. The same is true for 'very slight impact' and 'routine examination', notions that doesn't translate well to a person with dementia who might very well react in a very different way than a person without dementia.

"The guidelines that researchers act according to allows for vulnerable persons to be exploited," says Stefan Eriksson.

Instead of trying to translate the norm to those who fall outside it, we need to address the real issues at stake and re-write the guidelines that apply today Stefan Eriksson says. We need to rid them of notions of exceptionality, minimal risk and group beneficence. We also need to monitor this kind of research more closely and provide legal obligations to compensate for any injuries suffered.

He concludes: "But we also need to consider other issues, such as how surrogate decision-makes can be of use to these persons and how to find ways to estimate a dementia patient's capacity for autonomy. We need to continue the debate and do more research on the ethics of research on persons with limited decision-making capacity."

Introduction

Over the last year I'm sure you've heard a lot about "cloud computing" and by now you're probably wondering: what exactly is it?

At Webopedia.com, "Cloud Computing" is defined as a "type of computing that is comparable to grid computing, relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. The goal of cloud computing is to apply traditional supercomputing power (normally used by military and research facilities) to perform tens of trillions of computations per second."

In other words, cloud computing makes it possible for your data and software platforms and services to be stored offsite, in the "cloud".

Online services of this type, which include software as a system (SaaS) and platforms as a system (PaaS), are becoming increasingly common and, for many lawyers, are an attractive alternative to the traditional law practice management software installed and maintained on a local server within a law office.

Online services available to attorneys now include law practice management systems, document management and storage platforms, secure document and information exchange services, secure email networks, digital dictation services and billing/timekeeping services. The online platforms are attractive, economical and viable alternatives for firms of all sizes.

Advantages include lower costs due to reduced overhead, less hassle related to maintaining the and upgrading the case management system and greater flexibility, since the Web-based system can be accessed anywhere, at anytime.

Taking advantage of cloud computing services allows firms to focus on the ever-important task of practicing law while the cloud computing provider operates, updates and maintains the practice management software.

Next, we'll be discussing the different types of cloud computing platforms and products. Once you've learned a bit more about cloud computing, you just may decide that it's time to consider incorporating cloud computing into your law firm's law practice management system.

What is SaaS?: Understanding the Concepts of Cloud Computing

The concept of cloud computing arises from the interplay of three concepts: IaaS (Infrastructure as a service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service).

IaaS can be defined as: "a model in which an organization outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and networking components. The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running and maintaining it." Amazon EC2 and Rackspace are examples of this type of service.

SaaS can be defined as a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet." The vendor provides daily technical operation, maintenance, and support for the software provided to their client. Examples include the email service Gmail and the virtual data room service offered by Firmex.

PaaS can be defined as "a paradigm for delivering operating systems and associated services over the Internet without downloads or installation." Salesforce.com is an example of PaaS.

While these concepts may, at first glance, seem confusing, it's really quite simple: cloud computing platforms allow lawyers to focus on practicing law by providing a cost-effective way to outsource the burden of managing and maintaining servers, hardware and software platforms.

Cloud computing companies offer a unique and flexible solution, allowing attorneys to focus their time where it counts-serving their clients.

As we'll discuss in future posts, cloud computing can trigger some thorny ethical and security issues for lawyers, but in many cases can also provide better security than that currently being used by many law firms.

For example, encrypted communications via cloud computing platforms offer far more security than the unencrypted emails typically used by most law practices.

As discussed previously, the unencrypted email systems used by most law firms are inherently insecure and place confidential client data at risk.

However, there are secure alternatives to email, using cloud computing products, like Firmex online document workspace, that incorporate some form of encrypted client communication into their platforms. These cloud computing platforms provide lawyers with a ready-made solution to the problem of unencrypted, insecure email.

There are a number of products available that allow attorneys to securely exchange large volumes of confidential documents and information with opposing counsel, clients and others. For example, law firms can use secure virtual data rooms such as those provided by Firmex, to collaborate and communicate with other users, manage online due diligence, exchange closing drafts, create digital record books, share litigation documents, and secure client access to important files.

Firmex's secure virtual data rooms are SaaS-based, so attorneys can access their virtual data rooms wherever the Internet can be accessed. There's no need to install and maintain costly servers and software. Instead, lawyers can simply and safely log on and access their data room from anywhere.

The electronic data rooms are extremely secure, thus allowing for safe, uncompromised communications. The primary hosting facility has bank level security, SAS 70 Type II Compliant Data Centre, the server has load balancing and redundancy, and incorporates real-time fail-over and off-site back-up. The virtual data rooms are protected by: 1) 128-bit SSL security certificates for data encryption, 2) network firewalls, anti-virus and anti intrusion applications, and 3) an industry top-rated application firewall that actively monitors user behavior to ensure it is within acceptable parameters of application use; unusual behavior is flagged and the user session terminated automatically.

Because most email platforms are inherently insecure, more lawyers, with client confidentiality in mind, will begin to seek encrypted alternatives for secure communication and document exchange. Firmex's online data rooms are a great choice, offering law firms a secure, encrypted alternative to the unencrypted, insecure email systems that many law firms currently use.

Justice John Paul Stevens’s announcement that he will resign from the Supreme Court at the end of this term has caused a flood of newspaper articles and blogs about the most significant opinions he authored during his 34 years on the Court. With the exception of an insightful piece by Joe Mullin at Corporate Counsel, the media has largely overlooked one of his opinions that has had a direct daily impact on virtually all Americans: the majority opinion in Sony v. Universal, decided by the Supreme Court in 1984. This decision is the legal foundation of the Digital Age.

The case involved the lawfulness of the Betamax video-cassette recorder manufactured by Sony. The motion picture studios took the position that the Betamax contributed to copyright infringement by allowing consumers to tape over-the-air broadcasts of television programs. After a five-week trial, a federal district court in California ruled that Sony was not liable for contributory infringement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court, and found that Sony did contribute to infringement.

By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit. Justice Stevens in his opinion for the majority explained that copyright law’s fair use doctrine permitted a consumer to tape an over-the-air broadcast for later viewing – what Justice Stevens called “time-shifting.” Interpreting the fair use doctrine to permit widespread, systematic copying by consumers for private use was truly revolutionary.

Equally revolutionary was the standard Justice Stevens articulated for contributory infringement. The Copyright Act does not define when the manufacturer of a device should be liable for the infringing conduct of the device’s consumers. Relying on language in the Patent Act, Justice Stevens ruled that so long as a device is “capable of substantial noninfringing uses,” the manufacturer of the device cannot be liable for infringing copies consumers make with the device.

These two holdings enabled an explosion of innovation that all of us enjoy in our daily lives. All digital devices, including personal computers, DVRs, and iPods, allow consumers to make copies. Justice Stevens’s opinion made clear that the manufacturers of these devices were not liable for infringements made with the devices because the devices were also capable of substantial noninfringing uses – the fair use private copies. This meant that companies could invest in the development of new digital technologies without the incurring the risk of enormous liability for the potential misuses of those technologies by some of their consumers.

Justice Stevens did more than just write the majority opinion in this decision that is the legal foundation of the Digital Age. He also played a decisive role in changing the direction of the Supreme Court from affirming the Ninth Circuit to reversing it. When Justice Thurgood Marshall’s papers were opened to the public after his death, it became evident how skillfully Justice Stevens had maneuvered the Court in a new course (see Jon Band’s 1994 article).

At the internal conference held by Supreme Court after the oral argument in 1983, a majority of justices appeared to support affirming the Ninth Circuit’s finding that Sony contributed to copyright infringement. Justice Blackmun was assigned the task of writing the majority opinion. Justice Blackmun fashioned an opinion that quickly gained the approval of Justices Marshall, Rehnquist, and Powell.

Meanwhile, Justice Stevens built a consensus to reverse the Ninth Circuit. His initial outline of what he expected would be a dissenting opinion focused on the theory that section 106 of the Copyright Act did not prohibit a person from making of a single copy for private use. Justices Brennan and White disagreed with this theory; they believed that the Copyright Act did prohibit the making of a single copy. Nonetheless, they indicated that the copying in this case might fall within the fair use doctrine under section 107 of the Copyright Act.

Over a series of drafts, Justice Stevens moved away from his section 106 theory and towards the Brennan/White fair use approach. Once Justice Stevens satisfied Justices Brennan and White, he convinced Chief Justice Burger to join them.

That left Justice O’Connor with the deciding vote. Justice Blackmun refused to make changes to his opinion that she requested, declaring that “[f]ive votes are not that important to me when I feel that proper legal principles are involved. It therefore looks as though you and I are in substantial disagreement.” Justice O’Connor then began working with Justice Stevens, who was willing to accommodate her concerns about the appropriate standard for contributory infringement. Eventually she joined his opinion, and Justice Stevens had five votes necessary to reverse the Ninth Circuit.

By convincing a majority of the Court to change direction and find Sony innocent of infringement, Justice Stevens eliminated a major obstacle to the creation of the Internet. Companies could now build the innovative products and services that comprise the Internet without fear of crippling copyright liability.

Law libraries have evolved to become a service offered by talented professionals whose expertise can now be accessed at anytime, anywhere.

Not long ago, the law library was "a place". It housed printed materials and staff and provided work space for research. Lawyers went there to use books and consult librarians to locate and complete assignments. Today, the notion of a modern law library is very different, shaped by the skills of specialized researchers and information managers rather than by bookshelves and bound volumes.

The evolution of law libraries of course stems from technological advances. The invention of Lexis by Mead in the early 1970s and the eventual rapid growth of online legal research during the 1980s had a limited impact on law libraries. It was really in the 1990s that libraries began a dramatic transformation.

In the 1990s, the legal market saw a move to fixed-price contracts for online legal research, which enabled lawyers to work from their desks without visiting the library. Printing from online services, once cost-prohibitive and inconvenient, grew easier than directly using the library's collections. Enhancements to online systems also reduced – if not eliminated – the need to consult certain specialized resources (e.g., Shepard's Citation Service). Then the Web entered the research arena. The advent of portals, RSS feeds, alerts, anytime and anywhere access to proprietary data sources, mobile devices and applications, and other digital tools further facilitated the transition from print to digital screens.

Three other trends also shaped the law library. First, many firms built dedicated marketing departments, which fostered demand for business research. Second, new business intake became increasingly complex – often requiring more detailed business research. Between these two trends, many firms struggled to meet the demand and to decide which department should conduct business research. Third and separately, even before the recent economic crisis, many firms began reducing the physical size of their libraries, particularly in metropolitan areas where office space was at a premium. This was of most concern for those firms experiencing the greatest growth. Many simply could not obtain expansion space and so needed to re-configure available space for lawyers' offices. With lawyers using screens instead of books and firms needing more space, physical collections shrank, often dramatically.

Some mistakenly surmise that these trends endanger law libraries – making them victims of a new technological age or losers to business researchers. A more accurate assessment is that law libraries are simply evolving into a service rather than just a place [Editor's note: libraries and librarians, content and expert services, have always been inextricably linked]. With that shift, law librarians are arguably even more important today: the multitude of digital databases raises so many questions about source selection and accuracy and effective use, that professional research guidance and services is critical.

The "library as service" enables yet another change: library service providers have become a viable alternative to the in-house operation and management of information resources. Managing partners and general counsels are receptive to library service providers for many reasons. Providers enjoy economies of scale that enable them to offer, in many cases, a broader array of services as well as deeper access to more expertise and information sources than traditional in-house libraries. In addition to offering more depth by centralizing service across firms, a provider can defray administrative and technical services costs over a larger base, thus reducing the underlying service cost. A shift to a vendor-operated service can utilize a mix of onshore and offshore resources, which further reduces costs. Finally, a service provider can provide cost-effective, 24x7 coverage, which is typically impossible or very costly for smaller in-house libraries.

A closer look at some of the benefits – many of which stem directly from scale economies – explains why this option is increasingly attractive:

• Access to experts with specialized skills: Law firms and law departments, even very large ones, can gain access to highly specialized researchers whom they otherwise could not to afford to hire on their own. From the perspective of library professionals, employment with a provider who offers outsourced library services presents an opportunity to develop highly specialized skills. As a result, these providers often attract individuals with advanced degrees, including those for legal and business specialties. In contrast, these same professionals are often required, out of necessity, to be jacks-of-all-trades when managing all facets of an in-house library operation, including procurement of information sources, research, training and administrative oversight.

• Access to specialized information: Many library service providers offer experience with and access to highly-specialized, proprietary research databases, best practices knowledge and a far wider range of publications. Though content provider license terms present challenges to aggregating demand and negotiating price, providers can sometimes purchase specialized resources at lower rates than what individual firms or corporate legal departments can attain. In this way, providers often make it viable, particularly for small and mid-sized organizations, to gain access to information that was too costly or unreasonable to invest in previously.

• Regional "super libraries" and "niche" collections: Library service providers can leverage their greater access to specialized information and preferred supplier relationships to create cost-effective central libraries for geographic regions – an important advantage for customers who often cannot justify investing in resources to serve one-time uses or "niche" topics. In this way, service providers are also often able to dramatically to reduce the costs associated with the management of collections and journals – while at the same time decreasing duplicate purchases of these resources.

• Lower administrative burden: Using best practices honed through the delivery of library services to numerous firms and corporate legal departments, service providers can operate at greater efficiency than many traditional stand-alone libraries.

• In-depth training: In most traditional law libraries, highly skilled librarians must spend time training lawyers on proper use of proprietary databases. This distracts them from more valuable uses of their time. Service providers either staff individuals dedicated to training or utilize their preferred relationships with vendors to offer direct training and support.

Service providers offer another benefit, one that does not flow only from scale. Because providers are in a focused business, they typically collect and analyze operational data and then adjust their operations based on rigorous metrics. This means systematic monitoring of and reporting on research requests and source utilization. These metrics support delivering better client service, adjusting service levels to better meet lawyers' requirements, and optimizing the mix of data sources. The "service-level agreements" that govern providers assure law firms and departments that they receive the research support they need. The providers' usage metrics allow customers to adjust service levels up and down and, in some instances, can improve cost recovery from clients.

The significance of these benefits has not been lost on leaders in the legal industry. Globally, the outsourcing of library services is accelerating. Notably, such growth is not limited to just small firms.

For small- and medium-sized legal operations, outsourced library services can "level the playing field" with larger organizations. For example, with 40 partners and a staff of 350, Foot Anstey is a rapidly-growing UK law firm. While it had many of the sophisticated needs for library services, it lacked the scale to justify the size and scope of the in-house library and research team it envisioned. By engaging a provider of library services, Foot Anstey was able to expand the breadth and depth of support available to its lawyers and staff without increasing costs – enabling it to provide higher quality, more cost-effective service to its clients that is comparable to much larger firms.

"By outsourcing our library services, we gained access to a large team of information specialists with greater breadth of expertise, depth of experience and capacity for meeting our growing information needs," said Richard Gardiner, Foot Anstey's director of business development. Now we have all of the support and expertise we need at an affordable price without the administrative and management challenges."

Larger firms can gain benefits as well. Working with a provider can not only lower their costs but also free their professional law librarians to focus on what they do best – utilizing the skills that have always made them the first people lawyers turn to when they want to know where and how to conduct legal research. Furthermore, large firms can work with providers to rationalize both their physical collection and service offerings across multiple offices, countries, and practices.

Libraries have a long and cherished history. Technology and law firm economics have already changed the course of that history. Print is not dead, but it is much diminished. In the new world, librarians prove their value by continuous participation in solving lawyers' research requirements, not only library management. In the evolution of library from place to service, the role of law librarian is shifting to problem solver, consultant, and expert researcher. Outsourced library service is another phase in our continuously evolving idea of what we mean by a law library.

Because my family and I live in Europe we cannot see all the channels that show footage of the elections going on in the US. An American friend of mine who told me yesterday that he owned a Toledo free dish network satellite TV and he can see every digital satellite channel under the sun. This gave me a great idea. These days many free hd receivers are being given away on the net so why don’t I get a Free satellite dish system myself? I just read something on the net about satellite TV in Europe and how it seems to be a growing market. People are craving for digital channels and hdtv. I just made an order and will have my dish system installed by tomorrow. Now I can finally watch Bush and his republican friends going at it on TV.