Harris County Law Library
Gentle Reader,
We at the Harris County Law Library are excited to personally invite you to join our e-mail list. The varied and multifaceted content of our blog is but one piece of our puzzle. Absolutely free of charge, we also offer CLEs, hands on training in our Legal Tech Institute, and expert guest speakers from all over the country. Subscribe today to ensure you don't miss a thing!
New Video CLE!
A new on-demand learning opportunity is available from the Harris County Law Library. Legal Practice Technology, presented by Emily W. Lawson (O'Quinn Law Library, University of Houston Law Center), is the latest addition to the Law Library's YouTube channel and Legal Technology Institute On-Demand CLE video collection.
In this course, learn about trends in law practice technology, as well as techniques for staying up to date with the latest developments in tech. Learn about free and low-cost options, such as legal apps and software, that will assist you with tasks such as marketing, time management, information organization, and research. Information about how to research legal technology options is presented, along with recommendations for additional exploration.
To access this and other on-demand legal tech courses, simply select the desired course topic, click the Play button, and learn! All LTI on-demand videos are accredited by the State Bar of Texas for a limited time. Watch the video and then report CLE credit at www.texasbar.com using the course number provided in the video.
While visiting the LTI pages on the Law Library's website, take a look at our Course Catalog to register for upcoming in-person learning opportunities, including the popular Hands-on Legal Tech Training courses, which are offered every Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm in the Law Library's Legal Tech Lab.
In fall 2016, Harris County Law Library launched the Legal Tech Institute, an ongoing series of free learning opportunities focused on using technology for more efficient legal work. Now, as we approach the end of February, we're gearing up for the second installment of our latest LTI venture, Hands-on Legal Tech Training. On every Thursday afternoon in February, we offered a session called MS Word for Legal Work. It was a success! And we're excited to move ahead with the next installment of our Hand-on Legal Tech Training series.
Click the image to register. Earn 1 hour of free CLE credit for attending.
On Thursday, March 1st, at 2:00 pm, in the Law Library's Legal Tech Lab, we'll offer a program called Find & Format Legal Forms. Like all Hands-on Legal Tech programs, this course will be divided into three sections, each covering a different skill level. We will "Get Started" by presenting the types of forms available for legal work, along with tips for finding them using the free online resources and databases available in the Law Library. Next, we will "Level Up" by exploring more advanced strategies for navigating O'Connor's, Westlaw, and Lexis Advance to find the best forms for specific legal needs. Finally, we will "Go Pro." We'll address techniques for formatting the forms we find and for creating reusable templates for routine legal work. As always, we will leave time to answer your questions during our Q&A session at the end of the program.
We hope you will join us at the March Hands-on Legal Tech training session, Find & Format Legal Forms. To register for this event and sign up to receive one hour of free CLE credit for attending the course, please visit the course catalog (or click on the image above) and select the date for the session that works best for you.
Register today for our upcoming CLE from the Legal Tech Institute at the Harris County Law Library! This program is presented by our local Westlaw trainer and will focus on Statutory and Legislative History resources on Westlaw that you can access for free at the Law Library.
The Harris County Law Library has seen many changes since it opened on October 1, 1915, including many changes in technology. This month's exhibit features several treasures from the past century representing the evolution of technology in the Law Library and in the practice of law. Don't miss the exhibit, which will be located in the library's lobby throughout January.
The electric light bulb was the first technology introduced to the Law Library, followed three decades later by a new development in sound recording technology.
SoundScriber Dictation Machine purchased for use at the Harris County Law Library in the mid-1940s.
The Soundscriber Dictation Machine, which featured an amplified microphone and soft-vinyl recording discs was introduced in 1945. It allowed attorneys to dictate notes, letters, and other documents while conducting research in the Law Library.
Westlaw Automated Law Terminal (W.A.L.T.) (c. 1982) - a similar terminal was available in the Harris County Law Library as early as 1985. {photo courtesy of Thomson Reuters}
In the 1980s, electronic legal research made its debut with W.A.L.T. (West Automated Legal Terminal), Harris County Law Library's portal to the Westlaw database. This dedicated computer terminal allowed users to access the Westlaw database over the Internet, but the cost of online legal research was prohibitive for most users. Electronic searching could cost up to $150 per hour, so print materials remained popular.
Demand for print resources guided the Law Library's collection development decisions throughout the 1990s. The library began purchasing books on computers and the law, but developments in tech quickly outpaced their usefulness. Fortunately, Westlaw and Lexis were becoming more accessible and robust. Today, the Law Library relies heavily on electronic resources. With 25 public legal research computers available for patron use, a great variety of digital content is readily available.Computers are Internet-connected, allowing for access to several databases, including Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline, O’Connor’s Online, and the State Bar of Texas Practice Manuals.
The library's presence on social media -- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram -- has also grown, providing users with up-to-date access to information about Law Library resources, services, and events, including the CLE sessions presented by the Law Library's Legal Tech Institute.
The Legal Tech Institute is an ongoing series of free learning opportunities focused on using technology for more efficient legal work. Since October of 2016, a new learning session has been offered each month with content designed for a diverse audience of legal tech beginners and experts. Microsoft Word for Lawyers, Excel Essentials, and Finding & Formatting Legal Forms are just a few of the courses that LTI has presented so far. Representatives from Westlaw and Lexis have rounded out the schedule with regular Vendor Visits.
LTI continues to grow with an ever-expanding menu of learning opportunities both in person an online. Earn CLE credit and improve your tech proficiency by visiting the LTI webpage where on-demand recordings of previous events are available. Look for even more offerings via our Hands-On Legal Tech Training courses which are scheduled to launch in 2018.
What’s behind the name? “Ex Libris Juris” is Latin for “from the books of law” and much of the information here will relate to the legal information collected and curated by the Law Library. Additionally, “Ex Libris” has long appeared on bookplates – labels appearing inside the front cover of books – and has acquired the connoted meaning “from the library of” to show ownership of the book. Using this connotation, the phrase becomes “from the library of law” and better describes the posts about digital resources, event announcements, and research tips that will regularly appear here.
