Harris County Attorney Ryan unveils Digital Education Nook at Law Library

The Law Library was pleased to welcome Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan to unveil the latest addition to our digital outreach initiatives —the Digital Education Nook. We were also joined by Gabe Baker, Community Outreach Specialist for the Office of Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge, to introduce the Law Library’s latest effort to promote digital inclusion.

“The Digital Education Nook is a section in the Law Library where visitors can sit down and watch on-demand video content,” said County Attorney Ryan.  “These videos cover a wide range of topics relevant to both the general public and to practicing attorneys.”

With content like a self-help collection, which is made available in collaboration with the Texas Office of Court Administration, self-represented litigants in Harris County can now have access to short tutorials on legal processes, such as “How to file a case?” and “How to appear in court?”, regardless of their ability to afford computer equipment or pay for home broadband or mobile data plans.

Attorneys can watch, learn, and earn Texas continuing legal education credit for free via videos of experts who visit to share their knowledge at live programs in the Harris County Attorney Conference Center.  The programs are recorded and then made available for viewing through the Digital Education Nook.

“We’ve found that recent graduates still struggling with student loan debt and small firm attorneys without a big budget benefit tremendously from the free opportunities to stay up-to-date with the latest technology,” said Sears. “Since these are the folks who frequently serve individuals who might otherwise have to represent themselves, we try to focus on expanding training opportunities for small firm attorneys.”

See the Harris County Attorney’s Office press release to learn more and visit the Law Library’s webpage for details about the Digital Education Nook.

June is Constitutional Law Resource Month

The Harris County Law Library is highlighting Constitutional Law Resources during the month of June. Currently on view in the Law Library lobby are three exhibits:

• Brown at 65: Explore the history of this important U.S. Supreme Court case which was decided 65 years ago on May 17, 1954.

• LGBT Legal Resources: Learn about significant federal legislation and landmark Supreme Court cases that have shaped the legal landscape for LGBT Americans in recent years.

• Magna Carta: View the Law Library’s 1763 copy of Magna Carta, the foundational document on which the United States Constitution is based.

Brown at 65

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), in which the Court declared the doctrine of “separate, but equal” to be “inherently unequal” when applied to public schools. In honor of the 65th anniversary of the landmark case, the Law Library has created an exhibit that brings the precedent front and center for all to experience through an immersive presentation.

Walking through informative markers placed at the relevant reporters provides visitors with a vivid, undeniable sense of the pace at which school desegregation cases wended their way through the courts. For example, while many people know Brown began in Kansas in 1951 (the first opinion can be found at 98 F.Supp. 797 (Kan. 1951)), fewer realize the final opinion wasn’t penned until 1999 (the final opinion can be found at 56 F.Supp.2d 1212 (Kan. 1999)).

Visit the law library today to explore this special exhibit in person!

LGBT Legal Resources

Learn more about the following civil rights achievements for LGBT Americans:

• Lawrence v. Texas; 539 U.S. 558 (2003);123 S. Ct. 2472; 156 L. Ed. 2d508; 71 U.S.L.W. 4574

• Obergefell v. Hodges; 576 U.S. ___  (2015); 135 S. Ct. 2584; 192 L. Ed. 2d 609; 83 U.S.L.W. 4592

• Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010; Pub. L. 111–321, Dec. 22, 2010, 124 Stat. 3515

View selected resources from the Law Library's print collection including:

• Transgender Persons and the Law 

• Sexual Orientation and the Law

• Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples

• The Impact of Marriage equality on Texas Law (State Bar of Texas CLE)

Additional LGBT legal resources are available via our electronic databases. In particular, the HeinOnline Law Journal Library contains a number of scholarly legal publications, including the Dukeminier Awards Journal, which recognizes the best sexual orientation and gender Identity law review articles of each year, dating back to 2001. A full archive of back issues is available on HeinOnline and on the journal's website at the University of California Los Angeles Law School.

Magna Carta

This month, we are also highlighting the history of Magna Carta. To commemorate the historic agreement made June 15, 1215, and memorialized by the iconic document, the Law Library has placed on display its 1763 copy of Magna Carta alongside American and Texas legal materials that show the connection between The Great Charter and the constitutional freedoms we enjoy today. Visit our downtown Houston location to view the colonial-era manuscript through the month of June and visit our digital exhibit for even more about Magna Carta.

Introducing the Digital Education Nook!

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Harris County Law Library’s newest learning opportunity brings on-demand video content to all within steps of the Harris County courthouses in downtown Houston.

A Digital Content Access Point for Everyone

The Digital Access Nook is an access point for digital collections from the Law Library’s Legal Tech Institute, the Harris County Attorney’s Office, and the Texas Office of Court Administration. Content covers a variety of topics, from self-help videos to help you work with your attorney or represent yourself in court, to legal technology videos on cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Bring your headphone or use ours and immerse yourself in one of more than 40 videos focused on legal topics. With a variety of content in a fully accessible space, there is something for everyone in the Digital Education Nook!

Visit the Digital Education Nook webpage for details.

Google, Privacy, and You

Attribution: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/logo-google-color-2650941/

The subject of a recent opinion piece in the New York Times discusses the “privacy paradox,” a sort of cognitive dissonance that compels us to share information about ourselves on every available platform while simultaneously cursing the technology that makes our compulsive sharing habits so addictive. That paradox can have wide-ranging implications for the legal community, which now has an ethical obligation to “remain competent in the practice of law, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.” The ubiquity of Google makes it necessary for lawyers to understand the impact it can have on the clients being served. For example, when Google periodically pings your device to track your location even when your device-location feature is turned off , it might implicate jurisdictionally-specific privacy rights or contract law, as a recent investigation by the attorney general of Arizona suggests.

Mapping a device’s location is only one tracking method commonly employed by prominent tech companies. Google tracks you in all sorts of ways through apps, it’s Chrome browser, and more. The information is used to facilitate marketing efforts, including sales to third-party marketing firms, and to integrate your online experience. A recent New York Times op-ed by Google’s CEO provides the company’s view on protecting data privacy while using the data collected to create a more customized economy. At its annual developer conference just weeks ago, Google reinforced its commitment to privacy with the launch of two new efforts — better cookie controls and guards against fingerprinting. Additional trust-building measures are likely in the works (including security features in the redesign of Gmail), especially as increasing numbers of users defect from Google to alternative browsers like Brave and Vivaldi.

The takeaway for legal professionals: Follow news about Google and keep reminding clients who find themselves in a privacy paradox about how information is used in the information economy.

UELMA? Why, Yes, We Do!

On May 25, 2019, Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 402 into law, making Texas the 22nd state to adopt the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act or UELMA. The record of this hard-won achievement is forever documented in the House Journal as seen here.

The Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act or UELMA has been adopted in Texas! On Friday, May 25, 2019, Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 402 into law, adding Texas to the list of 21 other states that have officially committed to the preservation and authentication of public legal information. Further, by adopting UELMA, Texas has made clear its intention to provide trustworthy, reliable access to online legal content that is permanently available in unaltered form and offered to the public free of charge whenever possible.

Navigating the legislative process over several Congressional sessions to finally secure the necessary votes and the signature of Gov. Abbott was long and difficult, and Texans, especially those who championed UELMA throughout this process, deserve a chance to celebrate. Passage of UELMA in Texas would not have been possible without the determination and perseverance of government relations advocates, especially the indefatigable Barbara Bintliff, Director of the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, who began her UELMA journey nearly 10 years ago when the Authentication and Preservation of State Electronic Legal Materials Act, as it was originally called, was drafted at the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

There are many next steps to work out in the implementation of UELMA in Texas — the law does not take effect until September 1, 2019 — but once fully realized, this legislation will introduce changes to the ways we all access legal information, the ease with which we find that information, and the confidence we have in knowing that the information is official, reliable, and authentic. This is definitely a win for the people of Texas and for those who champion open and equal access to justice for all.