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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

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Let the Cases be Free!

Jan Novak, Associate Director jan.novak@law.csuohio.edu | May 08, 2008 - 14:04

Two of the champions and leaders of the movement to bring case law into the public domain so that attorneys, legal scholars, and the general public can freely access federal and state court decisions, participated in a recent podcast on Lawyer2Lawyer. Tom Bruce, co-founder of the Legal Information Network, and Carl Malamud, founder of PublicResource.org spoke of the importance of removing barriers so that, in our nation of laws, the law itself should be available without “passing a cash register.” Answering charges the Westlaw and LexisNexis duopoly prevents new entrepreneurs from developing more cost effective legal research systems was Andy Martens of Thomson West.

Not quite the flip side of the public access issue, is Tom Bruce’s thoughtful blog discussion of the issue of privacy facing legal information providers: in our clamoring for free and open access to the workings of the legal system, how do we balance the public right to know with the individual’s right to privacy and security? He argues that it is the responsibility of the courts to determine, with “vigorous public involvement” the standards and policies that best preserve both interests.


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