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Law TiMes • May 3, 2010 brIEF: lEgAl TEChNOlOgy PAGE 13 knowledge is disseminated. Web sites, working blogs, applications, social net- and countless other offerings make it easier than ever for lawyers and legal industry watchers to publish their views on the latest court decision or legislation. Yet this proliferation has some worried that legal knowl- edge is being devalued. They point to examples like online aggregators and so-called citizen journalists that may be threaten- ing the future of news organiza- tions and how medical web sites have changed the way the public gathers health information. A panel of experts at last week's Legal IT 4.0 conference in Montreal addressed this topic and spoke with Law Times after- wards to offer their thoughts. Connie Crosby, an online communications expert and founder of Crosby Group Consulting, says it's unclear whether these technologies are a threat to legal knowledge. But what is evident, she says, is that they're changing the game. New web technologies seem poised to eliminate many of the basic repetitive tasks that lawyers are often burdened with, she says, adding they'll also increasingly be used to reduce the cost of some basic legal services. Many enterprising lawyers already use the web to snag cli- ents who otherwise may have opted not to seek legal advice. For example, at firedwithout- cause.com, customers can pur- chase an online tool that helps them calculate a fair severance package for $39.99. "It's not really necessar- ily meant to take away from lawyer work, but there is this move away from things that are repeatable," says Crosby. "Anything that is more infor- mation-driven, we're going to see inroads made by services on the web." Crosby urges all lawyers to look at the services they offer and consider whether specific tasks might translate into an online tool for purchase by cus- tomers. At the same time, they should focus their attention to the areas of work that are more knowledge-based. Crosby bor- rows a definition from Keith Swenson, vice president of re- search and development at Fu- jitsu America Inc., who consid- ers "knowledge-based" work to be that which is not repeated, unpredictable, emergent, and "robust in the face of variable conditions." With this in mind, Crosby views the web as a positive de- velopment for lawyers. "I think it's actually going to allow lawyers to do the re- ally fun and challenging work as opposed to the repetitive work," she says, urging lawyers Untitled-1 1 Do untrained bloggers undermine legal knowledge? T BY ROBERT TODD Law Times here's no question that the Internet has trans- formed the way legal to prepare for the shift nonetheless. Olivier Charbon- neau, a librarian and researcher at Concor- dia University who often blogs about the law, says one of his main concerns with the proliferation of le- gal knowledge on the web relates to source identification. It's im- portant, he notes, that individuals who com- ment on the law but aren't lawyers not take their analysis too far. "Being a lawyer is ex- plaining to people how the specific legal situ- ations apply to them- selves. But when you talk about legal topics on a blog and you're not a lawyer, you can't make that direct link." To guard against that, Charbonneau says he puts a disclaimer on his blog noting he's not a lawyer. Of course, not everyone is as forth- coming about the lack of expertise. As a result, Charbonneau says, "It's more about how we talk about the law. It doesn't matter if we talk about it on web 2.0, in newspa- pers, in magazines or in conversations with friends. But you have to be careful about saying, 'You should do this, this is what will happen if you sue this other per- son.' That's the legal part that lawyers do." Michel Gamache, director of docu- mentation services 'Anything that is more information-driven, we're going to see inroads made by services on the web,' says Connie Crosby. at Heenan Blaikie LLP, also suggests the potential misin- terpretation of legal information posted online should give pause to those consuming it. It's quite easy, he notes, for untrained le- gal bloggers to misunderstand parts of a text they're com- menting on. Meanwhile, Heenan Blaikie partner Simon Chester agrees that the unstructured nature of legal information is a barrier to the online availability of free — and useful — advice. "While legal information be- comes more and more readily accessible, legal information is itself not terribly well organized or structured for people who are not lawyers," says Chester, who wasn't a member of the Legal IT conference panel. "Simply telling my next-door neigh- bour that, well, you can go onto CanLII and download a deci- sion of the Supreme Court or a provincial statute isn't neces- sarily going to help him because that case and that statute isn't particularly organized in a way that answers her questions and deals with her situation." LT Why is The Conveyancer the #1 software application for real estate law offices in Canada? The Conveyancer is a powerful, easy to use, document production and practice management program that automates virtually every document needed to complete purchase, sale and mortgage transactions. Used by over 6,000 professionals in 2,500 law firms, The Conveyancer is the center- piece of a data and services network connecting law firms to valuable information, title insurance companies, mortgage instructing platforms and other law firms. Enjoy immediate benefits! 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