Would anyone care to comment about legal brief banks on the law-lib
listserv?
Why is it when you mention those three words to a law librarian, most turn
ashen?
Here are a few questions you might wish to address, but any other
observations would be welcome as well. This is not a survey but simply a
query to the list.
Do you maintain a brief bank? Is it paper, or online, or both? Do you
maintain a subject index or is it merely full text searchable?
Does the brief bank extend across offices in different locations or is it
specific to your location?
Is the law library responsible for the brief bank and the brief bank index,
or does it fall under some other office or the IT department?
Does your organization have an archivist? Does the records retention policy
at your organization cause a difficulty in maintaining a brief bank?
Are there any confidentiality issues involved in keeping a brief bank, since
such materials are in some cases considered work product or attorney client
privileged and in theory their disposition may belong to the client.
Is there an existing software package to manage brief banks?
Do government offices maintain brief banks? (A survey three years ago
indicated that few if any federal agencies maintain brief banks.)
Michael Ravnitzky
mikerav@verizon.net
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