Legal Research Roundtable in the CBA’s the “National”

The Canadian Bar Association‘s Oct/Nov 2005 edition of the “National” has a piece I was involved with entitled “Legal Research Roundtable.” There is nothing likely too earth-shattering in the piece for most experienced legal researchers. What was fun about the experience was the opportunity to speak with the three other participants (Gregory Pun, Peter Nagy and Cynthia Simpson) and Melanie Raymond (from the CBA) to see what other colleagues are up to.

It never surprises me but sometimes surprises others the extent to which legal research continues to involve print-based resources (with the fear that those who rely solely on online materials are potentially missing a wide range of materials).

Although technology in legal research has been revolutionary, and although the commerical databases with case law and legislation and speciality databases such as Hein Online have opened up opportunities not available in print, there still remains a wealth of material that will not likely every be available online, including textbooks. Who knows though? If Google Print resolves copyright concerns, perhaps this will change. And I remain critical of governments for not digitizing historical legislation and legislative material.