Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. We’ve been celebrating all month long with an exhibit called Poetry of the Bench and Bar. Today, we conclude the celebration with a few haiku — variations on a theme of bridging the justice gap. Enjoy!
Get Courts-Compliant with the Legal Tech Institute
With the recent election of 59 new judges in Harris County (civil, criminal, family, probate, and juvenile courts combined), notable changes in court policies and procedures have taken shape. As one would expect, each of the recently elected judges in Harris County has implemented specific rules for conducting business in his or her particular court. As a guide to understanding and meeting their new requirements, some judges have provided updated links to forms online; others have posted checklists of required documents; and several others are providing supplementary links specifically for self-represented litigants, including to the Harris County Law Library’s community resource guide, the Pro Se Litigants Handbook. The Harris County Law Library has been keeping abreast of and adapting to these changes in order to best serve our public patrons. We are also, as always, paying attention to any changes at the state level.
In late February, just shortly after the new Harris County judges were sworn in, statewide change was indeed taking place. Namely, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an order amending Paragraph 8 of the comment to Rule 1.01 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, which now says that Texas lawyers must be aware of the benefits and risks of using technology in the practice of law. By adopting this standard, Texas joined 35 other states who agree that technologically proficient lawyers provide better, more efficient client representation.
Certain local court rules also require specific procedures that rely on technology. For instance, Judge Janice Berg, who presides over the 247th Family Court in Harris County, has included the following in her Court Policies and Procedures:
At final trial on divorce matters, parties must bring their proposed property division to trial in Excel or Google Sheets format on a USB drive.
Complying with the ethical standard and local rules may require both access and training on specific hardware and software. If it seems daunting, the Harris County Law Library is here to help! Our 25 public access computers have the software you need (including Excel) to draft and assemble all your legal documents. And, our Hands-on Legal Tech Training courses, which we offer, on rotation, every Thursday at 2pm, will give you the knowledge and skills (and one free hour of CLE credit for Texas attorneys) to use that software and easily meet the requirements of the courts. In January, we introduced five new classes, including a popular new offering, Microsoft Excel for Legal Work. It will be presented again soon on May 16. Don’t miss it!
For a detailed description of all our weekly classes, see the 2019 Legal Tech Institute Course Catalog. Classes always begin with a Getting Started portion. They gradually increase in difficulty until we Level Up. We then Go Pro, giving you an opportunity to build proficiency as the course progresses. We attempt to address every skill level in an effort to meet the needs of all attendees, and we’re always happy to answer any questions you may have about using tech tools and resources to strengthen your legal practice.
Significant Investment in New and Improved Technology for the Legal Tech Institute
The Harris County Law Library is excited to announce a significant investment in new and improved technology — a 70 inch, wall-mounted digital monitor — for our Legal Tech Lab, the home of the Law Library’s Legal Tech Institute Hands-On Legal Tech Training program.
The Lab is fully integrated into the Law Library's research space and provides the perfect setting for participants to learn the tech skills they need to get legal work done at the Law Library and downtown courthouse complex. With seating for nine, the Lab also provides opportunity for participants and instructors to interact closely, ensuring individualized attention. Now, with last week’s installation of an impressive and much improved display screen, the Legal Tech Lab is even better equipped to offer legal tech training to attorneys, self-represented litigants, and members of the general public.
Consult our 2019 Course Catalog to find out which classes might interest you. Then, register online for the course of your choice, or drop in any Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm at the Harris County Law Library Legal Tech Lab. Texas attorneys will earn one free hour of CLE credit for each hour of class attended.
Harris County Law Library on The Geek in Review Podcast
Harris County Law Library Deputy Director, Joe Lawson, recently appeared on The Geek in Review podcast to talk with hosts Greg Lambert and Marlene Gebauer about the kinds of services and resources the library provides on a daily basis to the residents of Harris County, most of whom are self-represented litigants.
As discussed in the podcast, “Lawson believes that there is a duty of the law library to help train lawyers, not to just be more efficient in their personal practices, but to help them have more capacity to help assist pro se litigants. Lawson’s calculation is that a 3% increase in capacity, through advancements in technology usage, could help eliminate a majority of the pro se issues in the county.”
Tune in to hear Joe share his thoughts on how the Harris County Law Library and our Hand-On Legal Tech programs in particular can help train lawyers to assist the burgeoning number of pro se litigants who are filing suit in this, the third largest county in the United States. .
How to Practice Artisanal Law on National Let's Laugh Day 2019
Today is National Let’s Laugh Day, 24 hours dedicated to jokes, laughter, and all things funny. In honor of this silly day, which happens to fall on Tech Tuesday, we at the Harris County Law Library are turning our attention to legal humor with a tech focus. Instead of highlighting a new development or trend in technology, however, we’re calling for a moratorium on tech (just for today) with a reminder to remember a simpler time when artistry, craft, community, and tradition still mattered. Reclaim this heritage, slow your pace, and embrace your inner Luddite. Claim your title as an “artisanal lawyer” as the authors of the following articles have done.
How to Practice Artisanal Law (Big Legal Brain)
I Am an Artisanal Attorney (McSweeney’s)
In Which the Artisanal Lawyer Dismisses Google (BitterLawyer)
For further laughs, try the following, two analyses of laughter at the United States Supreme Court.
Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court (Tonja Jacobi, Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law & Matthew Sag, Loyola University Chicago’s School of Law) (2019)
Laugh Track (Jay D. Wexler, Boston University School of Law) (2005)
Happy National Let’s Laugh Day 2019!