2005

You are currently browsing the yearly archive for 2005.

UK not sold on e-Government?

28 October 2005 in Government

Kablenet reports that the UK has fallen behind the rest of Europe in usage of e-government services. According to the latest official EU figures:

  • only 31% of individual internet users have accessed information from public authorities – fifth from bottom
  • only 11% of individual internet users have downloaded forms from public authorities – bottom
  • only 5% of individual internet users have submitted forms online public authorities – bottom
  • for businesses with internet access – bottom in all three categories

The figures, however, also show that services to citizens were most developed in the United Kingdom. So, is it all about marketing or do the figures tell us something else about our internet culture?

Legal Reform White Paper

19 October 2005 in Legal reform

The DCA has published a white paper The Future of Legal Services: Putting the Consumer First, setting out proposals for the regulatory reform of legal services in England and Wales:

  • The Legal Services Board will provide consistent and independent oversight of “front-line” professional bodies such as the Law Society and Bar Council and promote public and consumer interests.
  • The Office for Legal Complaints will be a new, single, independent complaints body subject to oversight by the Legal Services Board.
  • Solicitors and barristers will be able to work together in law practices on an equal footing. Non-lawyers will be allowed to work as managers of legal practices, and also to participate in such practices as owners and investors.

Home Information Pack Progress

19 October 2005 in Home Information Packs | 1 comment

Progress is a new industry update on Home Information Packs (HIPs) produced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, for organisations and individuals across the property industry who are involved in the implementation of the Home Information Pack Programme.

The ODPM’s HIP pages provide an overview of the HIP, information on Home Inspectors and Home Condition Reports and the full range of research, consultations and other reports published on HIPs.

Other independent sources of information on HIPs are:

  • The Property Section HIP Portal which aims to be a hub for practitioners wanting to find up-to-date information about HIPs
  • The Home Information Pack Action Group whose main purpose is to obtain, for high street solicitors and independent estate agents, a high degree of control over the domestic conveyancing market and thereby help secure their futures.

Lawyers at No. 4 in the blogosphere

11 October 2005 in Blogging

An interesting piece in the New York Times reports:

“A survey conducted by Blogads.com, which administers online advertising on blog sites, and completed voluntarily by 30,000 blog visitors last spring, found that 5.1 percent of the people reading the blogs were lawyers or judges, putting that group fourth behind computer professionals, students and retirees. The survey also found that of the 6,232 people who said they also kept their own blogs, 6.1 percent said they were in the legal profession, putting lawyers fourth again, behind the 17.5 percent who said they were in the field of education, 15.1 percent in computer software and 6.4 percent in media.”

Henry Copeland, founder of Blogads, conceded that the survey was “hardly scientific” but undermined the popular image of the blogosphere as dominated by geeks.

It has to be said that these results do not reflect the position in the UK where lawyers seem reluctant to embrace the new medium.

Charity Commission online services

5 October 2005 in Government

The Charity Commission site has a new, improved design. It has also just launched its Online Services which enable charities with annual incomes of £250,000 or more to:

  • complete and send Annual Returns
  • view and make changes to contact details
  • make changes to the way the charity is categorised
  • send general correspondence about the charity

and to follow:

  • complete an application to register as a charity
  • download and use model governing documents

IT and e-commerce webfeeds from OUT-LAW

22 September 2005 in Feeds

At last. OUT-LAW News which tracks the latest legal stories in IT and e-commerce now offers RSS feeds. You can subscribe to All OUT-LAW News (the 20 most recent stories of the last 7 days) or to any of the following topics: Accessibility, Copyright, Data protection, E-commerce, Employment, Financial services, Freedom of Information, Games, Outsourcing, Patents, Security, Trade marks.

OUT-LAW.com is part of Pinsent Masons, an international law firm with a long-standing interest in IT and e-commerce. The site provides free guides, articles and news stories relating to everything from the drawing up of on-line contracts and agreements to issues of taxation and defamation, including sample contracts, checklists and other documents.

CommonLII

13 September 2005 in Legal Information Institutes

The Commonwealth Legal Information Institute (CommonLII) is the latest addition to the LII family. Launched on 12 September it provides a central point of access to core legal information from the Commonwealth, with 464 databases from 50 countries.

Whither the Legal Web Part 2

7 September 2005 in CPD, Legal web

Another plug for Whither the Legal Web?, the new e-book compiled and edited by me and Delia Venables, Part 2 of which is published today.

Part 1, available since May, covers Legal Information. Part 2, now available, covers how the web is transforming Legal Practice, with articles on the transformation of communication, managing email, electronic signatures, a virtual law firm, a virtual chambers, internet risk, practice developments made possible by the internet, e-government, harnessing web resources for knowledge management, web marketing for law firms, web marketing for chambers, selling legal services online, e-conveyancing and pro bono on the web – each written by an expert in the field.

What’s up with Daily Law Notes?

1 September 2005 in Cases, Law publishing

ICLR is in the process of morphing its Daily Law Notes service into WLR Daily.

“Welcome to the new look case summary service from ICLR that replaces the Daily Law Notes. The service remains the same; providing free 24 hour access to summaries but in a new easier to use format.”

What this, in fact, appears to provide is somewhat less than the Daily Law Notes service. See for example the July Index. Online summaries are provided for cases that have not gone on to be published as a Weekly Law Report yet. Where they have been reported – no online summary; just an order form for the paper copies.

The Bar gets blogging

1 September 2005 in Law blogs

Geeklawyer is the first UK barrister to blog – on media etc. Good stuff!

NIPCLAW is the blog of John Lambert, barrister of Northern Intellectual Property Chambers, the first and so far only specialist intellectual property and technology chambers outside London. It offers news and comment on English, European and overseas intellectual property, technology, media and entertainment and competition law.

Thanks to Information Overlord for the pointers.

« Older entries § Newer entries »