Carol Billings wrote:
<---- Begin Included Message ---->
" Chief Justice Calogero, numerous Louisiana
lawyers, or I would have been happy to give the two West authors a current
update on the growing acceptance of the format and on the resulting price
decreases in the cost of CD-ROM versions of Louisiana primary sources. But
that would not have served their purpose as well as the groundless
misinformation they chose to convey.
<---- End Included Message ---->
I hope that Ms. Billings will also share this information with the ABA
Committee on Citation Issues before it gets to far down the wrong road. The
Press Release/Statement from the ABA that announced the formation of the
committee states:
"There is a real risk of different citation systems coming into use in the
various state and federal courts. This would increase the cost of making
opinions available, and the cost to lawyers and courts of obtaining and using
these opinions. The result would be to complicate the legal process without
any corresponding benefit."
Now, this was written and distributed BEFORE the ABA Committee has even started
its work (unless it is already done.) The author of this statement talks about
the "RISK" of different citation systems and then goes onto to assume that the
cost will INCREASE for making opinions available. The Louisiana citation
system is sui generis and does not comply even with the AALL Task Force
recommendation -- yet with all of this RISK of non-uniformity, the price,
according to Ms. Billings is going down. Seems to me that the ABA Committee
has already reached its conclusions before it even started.
In the meantime, the AALL has a liason on the Committee, but a recent message
stated that the AALL would not attend the exclusive "hearing" set for November
8 in Chicago. It seems to me that Ms. Billings would be a perfect AALL
representative to describe to the Committee the risks of reaching conclusions
prior to hearing any facts. I hope she or someone attend for the AALL.
Now, also, is is not the American Judicature Society that is sponsoring the
Devitt Awards for West now????
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Alan D. Sugarman Federal Appeals on Disc tm CD-ROM ::
President Opinions of US Courts of Appeals ::
1993 to Date - All Circuits ::
HyperLaw, Inc. ® ::
P.O. Box 1176 DO NOT SHORT CIRCUIT YOUR CLIENTS ::
New York, NY 10023 ::
sugarman@hyperlaw.com 212-787-2812 212-496-4138(fax) ::
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