Chapter 10. Digital Libraries: the Publication of Legal Documents Online
10.3. The sharing of judicial information: when the judicial publisher
Judicial information is referred to as having strong added value. This strong added value comes from the company’s experience, from the analysis of individual know-how or from legal consultations. The information received is intended for private use. Judicial publishers link their documentation with that of the company via a closed circuit network, i.e. intranet (section 10.3.1). In addition, it might be interesting for a company or an institution to share some legal know-how with their clients or members. It is a question of introducing a specially designed channel for a given public (section 10.3.2). The amount of legal information and the adaptability
178 Digital Libraries
of legal professionals is such that it might be interesting for a documentation service to manage the latest updates by sending out specific alerts or by sending profiled e-mails to subscribers of such sites (section 10.3.3).
10.3.1. Intranet: the symbiosis of official information and personal doctrines Recently, publishers of online legal documents have been creating tailor-made tools which have allowed for the integration of all documentation belonging to the legal professional. This is achieved by using a unique integration and contribution tool which enables documents produced by the publisher and documents produced by the client to be available in the same space (appointments, forms, doctrinal positions, etc.).
These tools mean that customers do not need to:
– possess and maintain powerful and expensive internal services;
– create databases capable of managing masses of legal documents;
– acquire official texts as stated within the documentation service;
– append these documents with links to other documents;
– create a thesaurus of key words to index the chosen documents.
These teams of engineers and jurists, who have become experts in the creation of contents, help their clients in the definition and installation of their information systems right up to the management of a private space by responding to specific requirements and constraints, notably confidentiality.
10.3.2. Channels: communication within the communication service
Certain online legal publications available on the market aim to create a link which would give preference to their clients or members. In order to achieve this, a common ground which emphasizes knowledge and know-how needs to be established. One of these categories of information which both legal professionals and clients are fond of is undoubtedly that of legal information. Certain legal publishers are thinking of introducing a regularly updated channel on an external site which is now possible thanks to their experience gained in the networking of legal documentation.
This channel would be developed and broadcast by the company or institution itself; the corresponding web pages would be presented in colored codes, logos and other ways of identifying the subscriber. Regarding the contents of the information
The Publication of Legal Documents Online 179 being broadcast, the publisher could choose the content type, the frequency of updates and the publication or writing format for a specific target audience.
These channels, which are tailor-made, offer different legal professionals the possibility of distinguishing themselves from others, as well as marketing their knowledge of new legal systems in order to develop new judicial optimization products.
10.3.3. The alert and the newsletter: managing updates
The latest change in the sharing of legal information, the alert and the newsletter, are turning out to be key factors in document updates. Online publishers have been quick to integrate the processing capacities which the world of computing has to offer. The tagging of a set of expressions, terms, or legal terms allows the publisher to trace their history on a day to day basis. This is why publishers are continually giving their subscribers the chance to follow the latest information available in a particular aspect of law, in a particular legal system, or even in a raw data source.
The subscribers can follow this latest, most up-to-date information at a pace that suits them.
The day before the release of new or updated versions of a document is no longer the day when publishers try to pre-select and prioritize the information that will be included in the new edition (and all the irritations that this leads to). Instead, the day before releasing a new or updated version of a document enables publishers to provide an exhaustive list of themes which would be of interest to the subscriber.
The result of this could be the appearance of a pictogram on the site of the publisher which would be a warning to the subscriber. This update could also be in the form of an SMS in case of urgency, or more probably in the form of newsletters which would be sent to the subscribers of the legal publication.
For the documentalist/info-mediator it is a question of following the correct update for their colleagues and managing the set of letters that they intend to send to the colleagues. Managing the publication of information through the newsletter is also facilitated by the online publishers. The publishers offer the documentalist tools to help them choose articles or the latest news which interests them, to help compose and manage several publications, and to send newsletters as well as managing the sent and returned files.
180 Digital Libraries