Category: Courts

Barco Law Library reports that the 2-year free PACER pilot program has been suspended pending evaluation. [What is PACER?] A notice went out that “GPO and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts undertook a pilot to provide free public access to Federal court records at 17 Federal depository libraries through (PACER) ….The pilot …

AbsTracked reports that U.S. Courts website is offering RSS feeds: Newsroom Video News Archive The Third Branch: Newsletter of the Federal Courts Federal Rulemaking Hurricane Season 2008: Court Status Updates

From the U.S. Courts Newsroom: A new Federal Rule of Evidence 502 was enacted on September 19, focusing on inadvertent disclosure of attorney-client privileged material. The new law limits the consequences of inadvertent disclosure, potentially lowering discovery costs and limiting the need for exhaustive “privilege review.” Text.

The Wisconsin court system has created a new, interactive small claims website for the public. This user-friendly program is intended to provide an inexpensive alternative for people in need of small claims assistance but who do not have an attorney. The website guides users through a series of questions, and the Summons and Complaint form …

WisBar reports that The State Board of Bar Governors has voted to support Wisconsin Judicial Council Petition 08-02 to amend Wis.Stat. 809.23(3) to allow the citation of unpublished appellate opinions for persuasive value. From WisBar.org: Petition 08-02, asks the Supreme Court to expand the opportunities for citation by adopting the following: (a) An unpublished opinion …

U.S. Courts has announced that starting this fall they will be launching a system which automatically sends crime victims and their families information from federal courts, helping ensure that crime victims are afforded the right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any relevant public court proceeding. Victim notification data will be sent from a …

LegalDockets.com, a portal of court case information, is being restructured as Courtport.com. The new site will offer an improved user interface, added content, discussion forums, and more. The main component of the site is still the portal – a collection of thousands of links focused on court case information, rules and forms, property, recordings, liens, …

The Wisconsin Law Journal reports that “on Oct. 14, 2008, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will, for the fourth time, consider a proposed rule to allow citation to an unpublished decision for persuasive authority.” Read more.

Last week, the WI Court of Appeals filed a petition with the Supreme Court for rules changes seeking mandatory electronic filing of all appellate briefs and no-merit reports. The proposed rule changes would also also permit, but do not require, the filing of an electronic copy of the appendix. Source: Milwaukee Federalists

Both PreCYdent and AltLaw have come out with citators. Remember that these are both public-domain search engines offering cases and statutes for free on the Internet. AltLaw When viewing a case in AltLaw, you’ll notice that cases cited by your case appear on the left and cases which cite it are on the right. Both …