The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

primary users of that system and on the size, structure and nature of the legal profession in Ireland. An inquiry of this nature would enable us, according to Campbell, to attend to the following relevant questions: "First, are computer systems needed and are computer applications likely to be advantageous? . . . Second, if it is the case that some lawyers or legal firms could benefit from (or perhaps urgently need) computer systems or legal informational retrieval systems can we determine what services would be attractive and viable?" Conclusion: 1. It is hoped that interest will be generated amongst the legal profession in computer applications to law by the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland and by the local Bar Associations and that members of learned societies such as the Society of Young Solicitors and the Irish Society for European Law will devote some of their time to this area. 2. It is also hoped that the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland will set up a Committee to study computer applications to law and related topics and to report on their findings to the members of the Incorporated Law Society from time to time or, at least, that a group of lawyers independently establish a Society concerning this whole matter. It is hoped also that the Law Society co- operates with other bodies who are interested in this area. For example, the inclusion of Irish tax law statutes in a computer-based retrieval system surely would be of interest to both lawyers and accountants. 3. It is hoped that a course in computer applications to law will be included in the new system of legal education which the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland proposes to commence in 1978/79. Of course, law retrieval is merely one example of what computers can do for lawyers. There are other subsidiary applications — for example, accounting or drafting from precedents in a computer. 4. It is hoped that the Government will establish a Committee to examine this area in all its aspects. There is much to be done but one wonders how much more time will pass before the potential users of a legal information retrieval system in the Republic of Ireland take up the challenge. Footnotes 1. "Does the law need a technical revolution?" in Rocky Mountain Law Review 1946, at p. 378, cited in Legal Decisions and Information Systems by Jon Bing and Trygve Harvold (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1977), at p.60. Bing and Harvold's book is the most up-to- date work on legal information retrieval. A reference hereafter to: Bing and Harvold: constitutes a reference to that book. 2. Computers for Lawyers by William Aitken, Colin M. Campbell and Richard S. Morgan (A Report to the Scottish Legal Computer Research Trust November 1972) at p.l. A reference hereafter to: Aitken, Campbell and Morgan: consitiutes a reference to that Report. 3. Bing and Harvold, pp. 61-62. 4. See Computers and the Low (1973) by Colin Tapper, pp. 176-182 for a summary of the Oxford Experiments. 5. "Case Law and Computers" by Colin Tapper, Computers and Law, No. 4, May 1975, p. 7. 6. See Bing and Harvold, Chapters 4 to 7 inclusive, for a survey of the developments in North America and Europe. 7. See "System for Legal Document Retrieval in the European Economic Community" by Alan Brakefield and Norman Price, Computers and Law, No. 5. August 1975, pp. 7-8, and "Computerised Legal Documentation System of the European Communities", Computers and Law, No. 7. February 1976, pp. 2-

8. Sec CREDOC by William Aitken (A Report to the Scottish Legal Computer Research Trust, 1972) for a detailed study of the CREDOC system. See Aitken, Campbell and Morgan, pp. 18-25, for an outline of the CREDOC system.

9. Bing and Harvold, at p 50. 10. Bing and Harvold, at p. 51. 11. Bing and Harvold, pp. 52-53. 12. Bing and Harvold, at p. 53. 13. Bing and Harvold, at p. 225. 14. Bing and Harvold, p. 226.

15. Electronic Legal Retrieval by Philip Slayton, Information Canada, 1974. See "Practical Benefits of the Computer for Lawyers": The Proceedings of a Conference at the University of Warwick, Coventry, September 1976: "Designing Datum II" by Ejan Mackaay, pp. 12-20, at pp. 12-13 for a critique of the Slayton Report where Mackaay states that "The [Slayton] Report itself has been criticised virtually unanimously for the rather cursory evidence from which these drastic conclusions are drawn." 16. Operation Compulex (1972). Information Needs for the Practising Lawyer. Department of Justice, Ottawa, summarised in Aitken, Campbell and Morgan, pp. 117-121. 17. Aitken, Campbell and Morgan at p. 12. For a brief example of the system in operation see "Computers and Lawyers — a Personal View", by Nicolas Bellord New Law Journal, (24th October 1974) pp. 990-1. 18. See "Society for Computers SL Law Limited. Evidence submitted to The Royal Commission on Legal Services", Computers and Law, No. 11. January 1977, pp. 2-6 for a recent account of the present computer applications to law in the United Kingdom. 19» See "Practical Benefits of the Computers for Lawyers", The Proceedings of a Conference at the University of Warwick, Coventry, September 1976. "Lawyers' Needs" by Professor Colin Campbell, pp. 2-5 passim on which this third section is based. WHITE PAPER ON N.I. COURT REFORMS "Major reform to the law governing the organisation and jurisdiction of the courts in Northern Ireland is long overdue", says a White Paper entitled "Courts in Northern Ireland — the Future Pattern". The main proposals in the White Paper are: * Creation of a reconstituted Supreme Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland; * Creation of new Crown Courts to which will be transferred criminal cases in indictment, presently dealt with by Assize and County Courts; * Creation of a new Family Division within the High Court; * Merging the present Courts of Appeal and Criminal Appeal into a single new Court of Appeal; * Merging of the administrative staffs of each of the three tiers of the present judicial structure into a single integrated service; * Revision of territorial boundaries so as to relate them The U.K. Government intends to introduce, as soon as is practicable, appropriate legislation to implement the changes. But detailed aspects of the general administrative reorganisation — particularly in relation to court staffing and the territorial redistribution of courts and of court offices — are still the subject of consultation with interested parties. The running costs of the new Court Service are not expected to exceed present running costs. All members of the Judiciary will continue to be appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, and their independence from executive interference in the discharge of their judicial functions will be strictly preserved. to local government boundaries; and * Appointment of Circuit Registrars.

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