Public access to law and legal information

Abstract

Having looked at the various actors in the legal information marketplace — the judges, lawyers and those involved in criminal justice — it is important not to forget that the technology which is developing in the legal system also impacts upon the public: the clients of the system. It is not possible for changes in the profession to be hidden from the user. It may be that the user’s view is simply that the system has become more ‘efficient’ or that more detailed billing information is being provided, or that — as a member of the jury — the task is more visually engaging. This is a limiting view, though, which suggests that the active changes in the legal system are solely derived through the professional actors. A more realistic view would be to accept that the relationship of the user of the legal system is changed or modified somewhat by the new technologies. In this chapter, we briefly look at some of these elements.