ELECTRONIC PATHFINDER: A BLIND RESEARCHER'S GUIDE THROUGH A SAMPLE LEGAL PROBLEM Dana A. Ducharme Advanced Legal Research Spring 1993 "Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be? It is the generous spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought: Whose high endeavors are an inward light That makes the path before him always bright: Who, with a natural instinct to discern What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn." William Wordsworth, 1807 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGE Preface...............................................iii Scope.................................................01 Intended Audience.....................................01 The Problem in Hypothetical Form......................03 Isolating the Issues..................................05 Research Strategies...................................07 Applicable Statutory Law and Administrative Rules.....12 Relevant Case Law.....................................19 Other Statutory and Regulations Law...................25 Legislative Histories and Bill Tracking...............28 Looseleaf Services....................................31 Citators..............................................33 Gaining a Background: Legal Encyclopedias..............................36 Legal Periodicals and Law Reviews................37 Mainstream Newspapers and Periodicals............38 Special Organizations and Contacts...............39 Access Tips...........................................41 Appendix A: Technology 2001..........................viii Appendix B: Articles on Law and Technology...........xvi Appendix C: Legal Periodical Cites...................xvii Appendix D: General News Cites.......................xviii Appendix E: Special Groups...........................xix PREFACE There is hardly a more daunting place for a blind law student or lawyer than the law library. Filled with countless volumes of case reporters, digests, law reviews, regulations and more, the law library is a veritable cornucopia of information for the legal researcher. Problematic though, for the blind researcher, is the format in which nearly all of the necessary information is contained. While modern law school and firm libraries utilize the newest technologies of CD Rom and on-line research systems, the vast majority of research is still completed manually through the use of conventional print sources. Much through the traditional labyrinth of legal research, blind and visually impaired researchers in years past were required to seek the assistance of sighted colleagues, associates or employees to make their way through the visual maze of statutes and cases. This undoubtedly proved cumbersome, time consuming and, in the case where the blind researcher was forced to hire someone to help, very expensive. Nevertheless, blind men and women in ever increasing numbers have engaged the task of traditional legal research comprehending this foundational necessity of the profession itself. Today, thanks to the advent of the microprocessor, synthetic speech, refreshable Braille displays, CD Rom and a host of other sophisticated technologies, the blind or visually impaired legal researcher can achieve practical parity with his sighted contemporaries and near total independence in conducting legal research. Even in the short time since I enrolled at Boston College Law School in 1991, access technologies that have facilitated my own study of law have evolved dramatically. When I began as a 1L, I was excited at the prospect of scanning my casebooks with the then new Kurzweil Personal Reader manufactured by Xerox Imaging Systems. Among my other tools were an IBM lap-top computer with synthetic speech and a four- track Library of Congress tape recorder for reading those few law books that were available on tape. Despite having had these state-of-the-art machines, it was still nearly impossible to conduct first year research independently. Of course, electronic scanners and lap-top computers theoretically afforded me access to printed materials in the law library, but practically, independent research was still impossible because I still needed someone to help me find the cases or statutes I needed. Further, as most blind users of electronic scanners know all to well, not all printed materials are successfully or accurately converted for use by the visually impaired user. Complex formats and print styles frequently confused the Kurzweil Personal Reader that I was using then, and even when the scan was good and reliable, the process was rather slow and inefficient. For blind law students and lawyers alike, time is as precious a commodity as it is to our sighted colleagues. Today, access technologies have advanced considerably. My new equipment consists of the latest IBM high speed microprocessor, near human quality synthetic speech synthesizers and high speed text scanners for reading printed matter. My new Kurzweil reading system, the Advantedge package, is much faster than earlier machines of this type and considerably more accurate with varied types of print. As a reader for office documents and the like, the Advantedge scanner is excellent. But, it is still impractical to use this machine for timely library research. Electronic access to cases, statutes and other legal materials has proven far more efficient and thorough. As all law students and professionals alike are aware, there are two principle research systems available. Lexis and Westlaw are both highly accessible to the blind researcher using a personal computer and modem. Armed with a speech synthesizer or refreshable Braille display, a blind researcher can navigate the information superhighways of Lexis and Westlaw with significantly greater ease than the traditional, manual method allowed. Although Westlaw and Lexis essentially provide similar resources, they differ to some degree and a combination of the two services offer the greatest range of research flexibility. If the researcher is comfortable with topic and key numbers in the original West format, then Westlaw is an excellent case finding tool. Lexis can also be used to find cases quickly. Both systems allow for natural language searching or the more systematic Boolean logic search technique. Whether you want simple periodicals, scholarly legal journals, newspapers, cases statutes or regulations, these systems are extremely accessible for blind researchers and often, when used properly, faster and more thorough than the conventional method of manual library research. Because I am blind and have found these electronic legal research systems invaluable to me as a student and because of all the aforementioned problems associated with manual, visual research, I have chosen to focus this Pathfinder on researching a sample legal problem using those means most accessible to a blind or visually impaired researcher. I have selected as the sample legal problem for this Pathfinder, the Constitutional issues surrounding dog guide access to the state of Hawaii. Since Hawaii's de facto prohibition against blind persons traveling to and from the state with their dog guides is of particular interest to the blindness community, this topic seemed well suited to my broader aim of examining feasible methods of legal research for the blind law student or attorney. It is my sincerest hope that this Electronic Pathfinder will not only demonstrate my own understanding of advanced legal research, but will serve as a practical model for other blind and visually impaired law students and lawyers who necessarily must engage the most efficient, accessible legal materials to be competitive and economically viable in the professional marketplace. Whatever weaknesses this Pathfinder may reveal about electronic legal research when compared to traditional research in the print medium, will only serve to strengthen its usefulness to the blind researcher by illuminating some of the genuine pitfalls that still exist in the on-line systems. Dana A. Ducharme February, 1994 SCOPE This Electronic Pathfinder will attempt to elucidate some practical methods and accessible sources for the blind or visually impaired legal researcher who must rely upon electronic technologies for independent legal research. It will mention, wherever pertinent to the problem, those legal sources only available in print and which are not accessible electronically at the time of this writing. This Pathfinder will not attempt to instruct on the specific mechanics of on- line systems or specialized equipment in any great detail. Self-help tutorials and classroom instruction are better suited to that task. Rather, it aims at discussing the different pathways open to the blind researcher highlighting those specific sources available in accessible format. The particular problem of guide dog access to the state of Hawaii will be examined with a presumption that the reader of this Pathfinder has at least a first year foundational knowledge of civil procedure and basic Constitutional Law. INTENDED AUDIENCE This Electronic Pathfinder is aimed at blind or visually impaired law students, practicing attorneys and other legal professionals. Additionally, anyone interested in those methods and techniques utilized by a blind researcher may find this Pathfinder illuminating and informative. This research model is not geared for the blind lawyer already expert at legal research and proficient with the use of adaptive technologies for the blind and visually impaired. THE PROBLEM IN HYPOTHETICAL FORM Lisa Jones just completed her MBA at Harvard University. In keeping with her plans, she and her fiance, Ray Smith, married the day after her mid-year graduation on December 20, 1993. Lisa and Ray were married at the chapel on the campus of Boston College Law School where Ray was in his third year, himself planning to graduate the following May. Ignoring the bleak job market and questionable economic prospects they would surely face as a new couple just starting out together, Ray and Lisa decided to throw caution to the wind and spend half of their savings on a honeymoon to Hawaii. The Smiths departed for Logan Airport the morning after their wedding ceremony just as the snow began to fall on Boston. Ray, Lisa and her guide dog Candy arrived at the departure gate in time to register their luggage and board the plane ahead of the crowd. Without incident, the plane took off and the Smiths were off on the honeymoon of their dreams. After an all day flight across the United States and over the Pacific Ocean, Lisa and Ray finally landed at Honolulu International. No sooner did the excited young couple disembark the United Airlines jet that had carried them across five time zones when a stern airport security officer approached them with instructions to accompany him to an official state service area just outside the gate. Lisa and Ray willingly followed the security guard to a private room where a Hawaii Department of Agriculture supervisor greeted them with some pretty surprising news. Lisa was told that her guide dog could not enter the state of Hawaii without being quarantined for the state's mandated period of one hundred twenty days. Even before she could protest, she was informed that Hawaii state law required such a quarantine of all animals imported or traveling to the state to prevent rabies from entering the otherwise rabies-free island state. She was further informed that if she chose to continue with her plans, that she could stay at the island's quarantine center with her dog free of charge to wait out the four month period. Alternatively, she and her new husband could turn around and take the next available flight out of Hawaii and return home, not even permitted to relieve her anxious guide dog outside of the airport terminal as even this would constitute a violation of the Hawaii animal quarantine law. Ray, a soon to be lawyer, angrily protested that this law was not only unfair, but probably unconstitutional as well. Lisa interjected that it would be impossible for her to travel independently without her trained guide dog. She reminded the Hawaii department of Agriculture agent that she was here for her honeymoon and was not planning to stay longer than one week. The agent responded that he understood her position but could not permit any course of conduct outside the clearly stated Hawaii quarantine law. He again reminded them of their limited options. Lisa and Ray, recognizing that putting Candy in quarantine was completely unacceptable, decided to take the next available flight back to Boston and forgo their honeymoon plans. In an uncharacteristic gesture of good will, the Agriculture agent agreed to personally accompany Lisa and her dog outside the gate so that Candy could relieve herself before the long, disappointing journey back to frigid Boston. After the New Year holiday was over, Ray and Lisa decided to seek legal assistance to redress their perceived wrong at the hands of Hawaii state officials. They have come to your Beacon Street law office and have explained their situation to you. They want to sue, and after reviewing the problem for a couple of days, you think there are several bases upon which to ground a suit against the state of Hawaii and its Department of Agriculture. Now, you must research the problem thoroughly before you file suit. What steps should you take? ISOLATING THE ISSUES At the outset, it appears this problem presents some Constitutional issues, including the right to travel and equal protection under the law. Further research may reveal that certain provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act may be implicated by the facts of this problem. Unless you are a constitutional law scholar or particularly experienced in this area, chances are that you will not know with absolute certainty how to define the issues presented with any more precision than your law school courses have prepared you to recognize. The next step you take depends upon your comfort level with the issues you have isolated. If you need to review equal protection or right to travel issues and cases to shore up your knowledge base before beginning more detailed research for the particular problem at hand, you could, of course, review your law school casebooks on the subject, investigate the countless study aids that are available to law students in this area of the law, discuss the matter with knowledgeable colleagues or engage an on-line research system like Westlaw or Lexis to review these topics. The two prominent legal encyclopedias, Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.)and American Juris Prudence 2d (Am. Jur. 2d) are not available on-line in either Westlaw or Lexis. They are available in all law school libraries and thus, at least in pertinent part, may be scanned. Lexis does have available American Law Reports, Lawyers' Edition Federal (A.L.R. Fed.) through its fifth series on-line which can be an excellent tool for reviewing articles on law practice related topics including the constitutional issues presented in this Pathfinder. A.L.R. Fed. articles can be particularly useful since they are annotated with helpful notes and relevant case citations. For my own review, I found the Sum & Substance audio tape series on Constitutional Law not only very accessible, but efficient and informative too. These tapes consist of approximately fourteen hours of lectures by Professor Lawrence G. Sager who taught Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law in 1987 when this lecture series was produced. RESEARCH STRATEGIES If all roads do not in fact lead to Rome, then it is at least true that there is more than one way to skin a cat. So to goes the journey toward researching a legal problem. There is no one perfect, universal pathway that will serve as a research paradigm for each and every legal research problem. Rather, there are several good places to start and many different avenues that will lead the legal researcher to the information she is seeking. One approach is to look for one good controlling case in the jurisdiction in which you have filed or are planning to file suit. The particulars of finding relevant cases are outlined in a later section of this Electronic Pathfinder dealing with case law research. Important here though, is to recognize just how helpful one good case can be to your overall research. Using on-point cases, you can find citations to other potentially helpful cases, relevant statutes and regulations. West case reports are particularly useful since they will contain helpful headnotes along with Topic and Key Numbers (see section on relevant case law below) that will assist you in locating other cases reported throughout the West Publishing national reporter system. Case opinions will also serve to sum up legal issues and clarify points of law. Another good place to start, depending upon the particular problem at hand, is with a pertinent law review article, Restatement of the law, specialized treatise, or legal encyclopedia. These secondary sources also help to build your knowledge base in the area of the law you are researching and will often lead you to relevant cases that they cite to. For the blind researcher, law review notes and restatements are easily accessible on both Lexis and Westlaw. Treatises are more difficult to find in electronic form. Legal encyclopedias on-line are limited as well. Westlaw contains a limited selection of C.J.S. articles relating to tax law only but Lexis offers total access to A.L.R. Fed. articles. Since all of these secondary resources, both on-line and off, are annotated with numerous helpful references to relevant statutes, cases and regulations, they can be an excellent place to start, especially when the researcher has little initial knowledge of the problem she is researching. Again, depending upon the legal problem you have, you may want to begin your research with specialty publications like trade papers and journals that are read and relied upon in the particular field or area you are researching. Even mainstream newspapers and magazines may provide helpful information as you begin your research. The best place to begin researching the legal issues surrounding the problem of dog guide access to the state of hawaii depends entirely upon your base knowledge. If you yourself are blind and utilize such a dog for your own mobility, chances are you already have substantial knowledge of dog guides and many of the sub-issues attendant to this travel aid. You might already be aware of different organizations and experts in the field of dog guide travel and so could telephone or write to find out more information. If you have no basic knowledge of guide dogs, then you could learn about them through conventional newspaper and magazine searching. I chose to begin my own research by searching for a relevant case on-point. I was fortunate enough to find a United States District Court case from Hawaii which was almost tailor made to match the hypothetical fact pattern which I selected for this Electronic Pathfinder even before this case was heard. This case referred me to relevant statutes, regulations, cases and constitutional issues presented in my own fact pattern. This case became foundational to me as it opened a virtual road map for researching this problem. The Lexis research system contains a library entitled "BEGIN" which lists a number of excellent resource files that you can search on-line when you are beginning any research problem. A.L.R Fed. articles, Restatements and more are nicely collected in this starting point library for easy access by the blind or visually impaired researcher. Westlaw also has some treatises, Restatements and law review articles which serve this same function to the beginning researcher but the files are located here there and everywhere and not in one central library for easy selection. Case citators are available on-line too and can be very helpful in finding a line of cases that follow a particular point of law you may be relying upon. Citators are much easier to use in their on-line form because you can select a citator instantly from any case cited in practically any file contained on-line to view the list of cases that have referred to the one you are relying upon. As in their print form, the electronic citators are organized by table and quite easy to access with speech synthesizers or refreshable Braille displays. I would not recommend starting your research with citators though, since they can be confusing to use and really do not provide information on the law itself. Ultimately, where you begin is up to you and is dependent not only on the particular problem presented but also upon your own personal style and experience. APPLICABLE STATUTORY LAW AND ADMINISTRATIVE RULES SUMMARY The Department of Agriculture of the State of Hawaii is granted authority to establish rules for the quarantine of animals by Section 142-2 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Haw. Rev. Stat. @ 142-2 provides, in relevant part, that "Subject to chapter 91 the department of agriculture may make and amend rules for the inspection, quarantine, disinfection, or destruction, either upon introduction into the state or at any time or place within the State, of animals and the premises and effects used in connection with the animals..." Pursuant to this section, the department has promulgated rules for dealing with animal diseases and quarantine. Section 4-29-9 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules establishes a 120-day quarantine in a quarantine station for dogs, cats, and other carnivores entering Hawaii from the United States mainland or from any other country that has not been designated by the Board of Agriculture as rabies-free. The purpose of the rule is to "prevent the introduction of rabies." Haw. Admin. R. @ 4-29-9(a). Under Haw. Admin. R. @@ 4-29-9 and 4-29-10, the only animals completely exempted from the 120-day quarantine requirement are those coming from designated rabies-free areas by means of transport meeting certain stringent requirements. While the rules do not exempt guide dogs, they do make some accommodation for guide dogs and their owners. For example, Haw. Admin. R. @ 4-29-15(a) provides that any disabled person seeking to import a certified guide dog may, upon written request, be housed at no charge in an apartment at the quarantine station during the period of the dog's confinement. The rules also provide that, after an initial ten-day observation period, the guide dog may train freely on station grounds with its owner. See Haw. Admin. R. @@ 4-29-15(b)(1)-(2). The guide dog may also train with its owner off the station grounds for up to four hours a day, three days a week, in the company of a department inspector. See Haw. Admin. R. @ 4-29-15(b)(3). During such off-station training sessions, however, the guide dog may have no contact with other animals or humans. See Haw. Admin. R. @ 4-29-15(b)(5). HOW TO GET THERE Finding the Hawaii statute that governs here is easily and quickly done on Both Lexis and Westlaw. First, in either Westlaw or Lexis, you must access the proper file containing Hawaii statutes or code information. The mechanics of searching both systems are significantly similar as to permit me to discuss the methods for finding relevant statutes in the context of one or the other of these two research systems. Since Lexis is somewhat more readable with my screen reading program (Westlaw is readable too, but uses more columns and visual ordering of text) I will focus on finding the desired information there rather than on Westlaw. Wherever the two systems differ in data available, I will make particular mention of this. If you are already familiar with Westlaw's on-line research system or simply prefer it over lexis, specific search commands and files may be located using the self-explanatory on-line help system or by phoning Westlaw directly at 1-800-937-8529. In Lexis, there are a couple of different directions you could take. The simplest way to find Hawaii's quarantine law is to access the Hawaii State Library by choosing its proper identifier, "HAW" and then selecting the proper file from the list generated after choosing this library. The file, "CODE" from the resulting menu will permit you to search within the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Alternatively, you could initially select the "CODES" library from the first Lexis library selection screen that appears after you sign on and identify your work session. From "CODES," you can choose the file called "HICODE" to search the same revised statutes. This latter pathway would also allow you to select from any of the state codes, United States Code or any combination thereof if you needed to research the statutory law of any jurisdiction in the nation. Once you have chosen the "CODE" or "HICODE" file, you are prompted to begin your search. Lexis lets you search for specific terms using conjunctive and disjunctive connectors like "and" and "or." This is called a Boolean Logic search and may take some getting used too. You can further limit your search by requiring particular terms to be within a certain number of words from other particular terms. The art of Boolean Logic is beyond the scope of this Pathfinder, but assistance may be gained directly on-line using the context- sensitive "HELP" command which the researcher is continually directed to use if needed. Personal assistance is also available directly from Lexis at 1-800-543-6862. The particular problem of guide dog access to Hawaii is so fact specific that I was able to search for the applicable statute using some unique terms like "guide dog" and "quarantine." This resulted in approximately ten sections of the Hawaii Revised Statutes being found which contained these search terms. Alternatively, Lexis and Westlaw both permit a freestyle language search that is entered in common, grammatical form. This freestyle searching can be very helpful if the researcher is not particularly skilled or comfortable with Boolean searching. In either case, and in both research systems, the sections found can be scanned quickly in their cite form. I found the Boolean method more efficient in this particular search since it resulted in fewer sections found than did the freestyle search I also tried. While freestyle language searching is indeed simple, it often results in too many sections or cases found which can be quite time consuming and inefficient to weed through to find the information you are seeking. It was a bit more difficult finding the Hawaii Department of Agriculture regulations authorized by Chapter 142-2 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes that specifically outline the applicable quarantine guidelines and rules. Neither Westlaw nor Lexis contained the administrative rules in question for the state of Hawaii. Both systems did, however, have available the administrative codes of some of the states. I found that my own law school's library did not maintain this particular administrative code either. So, at least in this instance, my sighted colleagues had no real advantage over me despite the code I needed not being available on-line. Though unavailable in the immediately accessible form I have come to depend upon, I realized that I still needed to find the relevant sections of Hawaii's administrative code to properly and thoroughly research this problem. I contacted a number of law libraries in the Boston area and found that only Harvard maintained the Hawaii Administrative Code in its collection. In theory, I could have traveled to the Harvard Law Library and secured the particular sections I needed, but this would likely have required some assistance and so would not have been independent research. To stay true to the theme of independent research, which is central to this Pathfinder, I considered some different alternatives still accessible to me electronically. I did ultimately find the relevant regulations contained in the Hawaii Administrative Code pertaining to guide dog quarantine. I found it referenced in a U.S. District Court opinion recently handed down in a case directly on point dealing with precisely the problem presented in hypothetical form and premised at the outset of this Electronic Pathfinder. This find was a lucky one since I had originally decided to postpone searching for the relevant regulations when I was first unable to locate Hawaii's administrative code on-line. As it turned out, the particular opinion which proved so helpful was not even handed down until February, 1994, a considerable period of time after beginning this project. The methods and techniques used for locating this case are better saved for a later discussion on finding relevant cases. The Hawaii Revised Statutes file I searched on Lexis was an annotated code which was very helpful since it contained references to cases and A.L.R. Fed. articles which illustrated and explained the particular section of the code I was reviewing. Annotated codes are not the official codes for any jurisdiction but rather are the product of commercial interests that have edited the official statutory codes for all jurisdictions and have organized sections of codes by subject. West Publishing, producer of the United States Code Annotated, even includes references to headnotes and Topic and Key Numbers (explained within Case Law section of this Pathfinder) in the different state and federal annotated codes it publishes. Lawyer's Cooperative competes directly with West Publishing and produces another federal annotated code called the United States Code Service. Both of these federal annotated codes also include references, wherever relevant, to the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R). At the state level, annotated codes vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but generally, are a very helpful tool to any legal researcher. Westlaw's on-line system permits the user to highlight particular references in its annotated codes to jump directly to the cited materials. Another simple keystroke allows the on-line researcher to "GO BACK" to the last place she was at before jumping electronically to the referenced materials. Lexis has a similar feature called "NK" which acts like Westlaw's "JUMP" feature, but instead of highlighting the case, regulation, or statute you want to view, you simply type the equals symbol followed by the appropriate identifying number next to the cite you are interested in. Of course, the on-line researcher on either Lexis or Westlaw need not concern sighted, conventional researcher using printed volumes) since searching the annotated codes is done directly using Boolean terms or natural language. RELEVANT CASE LAW SUMMARY Laboring under the presumption that this case, as presented by the hypothetical facts, would be filed in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (diversity of citizenship between concerned parties), I researched the case law at the federal level hoping to find a few controlling cases covering the issues of right to travel, equal protection and relevant portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I found "the one good case" that every legal researcher should hope to find which dealt specifically with my problem. The case of Crowder v. Kitagawa, 842 F. Supp. 1257 (1994), involved two blind citizens from California who filed a class action suit seeking to establish an exemption for guide dogs from Hawaii's animal quarantine laws, which required a one hundred twenty day quarantine of animals coming into the state from rabies-endemic areas. On the defendant's motion for summary judgment, the District Court held that the quarantine law did not violate class member's constitutional rights to equal protection, substantive due process, and to travel. Further, the court held Hawaii's law did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the defendant's motion was granted. While the Crowder case was directly on point and even broadened my own understanding of potential bases for suit, it is important to remember that the different constitutional and statutory issues presented in this problem must be explored too. Cases in these different areas, i.e., right to travel, equal protection, etc..., are numerous and the points of law they discuss are well established. Any further discussion here of relevant case law in such areas would go beyond the scope of this research model. HOW TO FIND THE CASES Finding cases relevant to your own legal problem can be done in a number of different ways. The traditional West reporters compile cases in a national system of printed volumes grouped together by region at the state level and according to the court at the federal level. Approximately sixty-thousand cases are published annually by West Publishing Company throughout their national reporting system. No matter which case reporter you use, you will be confronted by its attendant digest collection which organizes the reported cases by subject. More specifically, the digests are an ongoing compilation of the headnotes prepared by West's editors and which accompany every case reported in their system. These headnotes are an attempt by West Publishing to summarize and clarify points of law in a given case. The real benefit, to sighted and blind researchers alike though, is that each headnote is assigned a Topic and Key Number that fits into West's patented system of organizing all imaginable issues of law into a giant framework of about four hundred specific topics and subtopics. As you may already know or can surely imagine by now, this digest system is a blind researcher's nightmare. As a print medium for finding cases containing points of law relevant to the legal issue you are researching, the West system of digests is completely inaccessible for the independent researcher. The on-line systems of Lexis and Westlaw essentially do away with the digest system of organizing cases. In either system, the researcher can find relevant cases more directly by simply searching entire databases with the Boolean method of term searching referred to in an earlier section of this Electronic Pathfinder. On both Lexis and Westlaw, the cases you find are identical to those found in the printed reporters and are cited to each reporter they can be found in. So, each on-line case will be identified by its official state or federal cite as well as its own unique citation to its position in the electronic collection of cases. Federal cases, for example, will be cited to "F. Supp." if the opinion comes from a district level court or "S. Ct." if the case is from the United States Supreme Court. Whatever case you are reviewing from an on-line system, you can be sure it will be identified by its citation to each reporter that reports the case. Whether you prefer to use Lexis or Westlaw in either a natural language mode or specific term searching, finding cases is straightforward and unfiltered. In fact, both Westlaw and Lexis report virtually every opinion from state appellate courts and all federal courts. This means that these electronic systems contain thousands more cases than the West editors permit through their careful screening to avoid unnecessary redundancy. Some experts in the field believe that Lexis and Westlaw provide too many cases which might encumber efficient research. As blind researchers, we do not have the luxury of engaging such an esoteric debate since, no matter how extensive, the on-line systems are the only practical way to find and review case law. Lexis and Westlaw can differ considerably as case-finding tools. Both are excellent in either a Boolean or natural language mode, but Westlaw offers a unique approach that Lexis does not. Westlaw has retained the functionality of its Topic and Key Numbers system found in their printed digests. Proprietary to West Publishing, the Topic and Key Numbers are accessible on-line in a database identified on Westlaw as "DB NUMBERS." You can search for a particular subject heading by using a specific search term or you can simply scroll through the four hundred plus list from beginning to end to find a subject heading and number which may relate to your own legal research problem. Westlaw also permits the researcher to use the tab key from the computer keyboard to move a screen cursor to highlight any Topic and Key Number from the list in front of you to get more specific information on that particular topic and Key Number. This system of Topic and Key Numbers is even more helpful to the researcher when she is reading an actual case on Westlaw. All the same headnotes inserted by West editors in their printed reporters are reproduced on-line in every case. This means that once you find a headnote that seems on-point to your own particular legal problem, you have found the proper Topic and Key Number and can use that number to search for other cases containing that same headnote and point of law. Westlaw is so user-friendly, that you can use the tab key to highlight any cases referenced in the headnote or in the opinion itself and jump right to that actual case. I actually found my "one good case" on Lexis using a Boolean Logic approach. This worked very well for this highly unique fact pattern (guide dogs, etc...) but Westlaw proved invaluable to me for its excellent headnotes, summaries, and electronic mobility. both Lexis and Westlaw organize cases in individual files identified by jurisdiction or in groups of files where the researcher can search for cases in related jurisdictions all at one time. A cursory review of the different libraries on both systems reveals logical patterns of easily identifiable files. Further, both systems have excellent and easy to understand, context-sensitive help right on-line as you go. The specifics of particular file identification and organization is beyond the scope of this Pathfinder. Beyond the straight-line approach to searching for cases on-line through direct term searching of the traditional case reporters separated by jurisdiction, there are a number of other ways to find relevant case law. Annotated codes frequently are a good source of relevant cases. Numerous secondary resources also exist that can serve as case finding tools too, but a discussion of these materials is best saved for a later section of this Pathfinder designated for this purpose. OTHER STATUTORY AND REGULATIONS LAW SUMMARY A visually impaired person who relies on a dog guide is clearly an individual with a disability under the ADA and its regulations. Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of their disability. Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity. 42 U.S.C. @ 12132 (1993). The Hawaii quarantine seemingly discriminates against dog guide users by preventing their enjoyment of the "benefits of the services, programs, or activities" of the state in violation of the ADA. The ADA, in assuring non-discriminatory treatment, seems to entitle dog guide users like our hypothetical protagonist (Lisa Jones) to rules which have a non-discriminatory effect. Further, it could be argued that Hawaii is obligated to fulfill the ADA's reasonable accommodation requirement by eliminating its quarantine rules with respect to guide dogs and their masters in favor of a less restrictive measure like requiring rabies testing at the airport, proof of recent vaccination, etc... Pursuant to the ADA, Title 28, section 35.130 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires "reasonable modifications" to avoid discrimination. A reasonable argument could be made that Hawaii's compliance with any less restrictive alternative (i.e., airport testing of dog guides, etc...) to replace the existing quarantine would meet this "reasonable accommodation" requirement. HOW TO GET THERE Having isolated as a possible issue in this case the potential application of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I again consulted Lexis to find any helpful statutory information. The United States Code Service, an annotated code produced by Lawyers Cooperative, is available on Lexis and contains the fifty titles of the United States Code. The USC is the official code containing all United States federal statutes and is broken up into fifty titles or subject areas. The U.S.C.S on Lexis essentially mirrors the official code but has the added advantage of containing helpful references to cases and A.L.R. Fed. articles illustrating the particular code section in question. Both Lexis and Westlaw alike contain electronic versions of Shepard's Acts and Statutes by Popular Name. These on-line popular name tables help in finding the actual statute or act name used in the official and annotated codes. These popular name tables are searched in exactly the same way that other files are searched on-line: by Boolean terms or natural language. The U.S.C.S I searched on Lexis also contained relevant C,FR cites which can also be found on-line in both Lexis and Westlaw, and in the latter, instantly if desired, by highlighting the C.F.R reference as it exists within the annotated code. However you decide to search the C.F.R, either directly or by jumping from another source that has cited to it, it is remarkably straightforward on Lexis and Westlaw. It is significantly faster and more simple to search for federal regulations on-line rather than to use the actual printed volumes in the law library. Most state regulations, however, are not yet available on-line in either research system. As I have earlier alluded to in the previous section on applicable statutory law, finding state regulations and administrative law is easier in the conventional print library for now. Eventually though, it is most probable that all state regulations will become accessible through your computer via Lexis or Westlaw, or even through CD Rom. LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES AND BILL TRACKING Legislative histories can be an important part of the research process. Often, the best way to apprehend the true meaning or intent of a particular statute you are researching is to review the legislative history behind it. At the federal level, both Lexis and Westlaw provide excellent access to federal legislative histories and bill tracking. Lexis and Westlaw offer essentially equivalent access, thus an overview of either system should suffice to explore the avenue of on-line legislative history and bill tracking research. Lexis's "LEGIS" library offers numerous files that permit research into a range of legislative documents including committee reports, floor debate dialogues, votes and hearings at all levels. The list of files available in the "LEGIS" library on Lexis is straightforward and self-explanatory. You can search specifically in a committee reports database, review House actions or get the full text of pending bills. From this type of on-line research, you can get the names of sponsoring representatives or senators, closely follow committee action and gain helpful insight into Congress's intent as particular legislation travels through the process. One very helpful service not available through Lexis is the Congressional Information Service Index. This comprehensive, privately produced collection of indexed legislative histories is available in most law libraries in print. My own law school's library provides the C..I.S information on compact disk which is considerably more accessible to a blind or visually impaired researcher. C.I.S. information on legislative histories includes full text congressional documents and abstracts of hearings, reports and debates as well. This invaluable tool is also accessible as a Dialogue database on Westlaw but not to student users who depend on their law school's subscription. Also available on-line, in both Lexis and Westlaw alike, is the Congressional Record. This is something of a diary of happenings in the House and Senate. The Congressional Record is comprehensive and is helpful in reviewing the course of legislative action on a particular issue. Another good source is the Congressional Quarterly (actually published weekly) which comes in magazine format and is a good source of tracking pending legislation to see what exactly is happening with a particular bill in the Congress. The Congressional Quarterly is only available on Westlaw. Again, though, both Westlaw and Lexis offer a variety of legislative history research avenues that ought be explored carefully by any researcher in this area. At the individual state level, it is nearly impossible to research legislative history on-line. Even conventional libraries do not provide easy access to such specialized materials. Since each state is different from the others in how it prepares its own legislative histories, there is really no other recourse but to contact the legislature of the particular state you are researching to find out how to get the information you need. Lexis and Westlaw both provide access to bill tracking, and in some instances full text, of pending bills for every state in the union. In the "HAW" (Hawaii) library I searched the file "HITRCK" (Hawaii bill tracking) for any pending legislation dealing with dog guides and the quarantine requirement. I found three bills introduced in January 1993 that have made no progress since then. The first bill, HI H.B. 683, proposed to end the quarantine requirement for resident guide dogs leaving from and returning to the islands. The second bill, introduced in the Hawaii senate, HI S.B. 1267, proposed to implement the findings of a task force organized for the purpose of investigating the quarantine requirement for guide and service dogs. While the particular task force report in question was not available on-line, I was able to secure a copy from Michael Lilly, in Honolulu, Hawaii, who was listed in the case report as the principle attorney representing the parties in, Crowder v. Kitagawa, 842 F. Supp. 1257 (1994), the only case directly challenging Hawaii's quarantine rules for dog guides. This report recommended that the quarantine be eliminated altogether for resident and mainland dog guides entering or returning to Hawaii in favor (et. al.) of requiring airport Rabies testing of the animals. The third bill, HI S.B. 1268, was similar to the other senate bill but proposed limiting the quarantine exception to resident service and guide dogs only. Lexis and Westlaw also permit access to pending regulations as well. I found non pending which pertained to dog guides. LOOSELEAF SERVICES While there is no specific looseleaf service dealing with constitutional or disabilities law issues, and thus none available to aid the researcher in a problem like the one presented in this Pathfinder, it is very important for the blind researcher to be aware that such services exist in other legal research areas like tax and products liability. What exactly is a looseleaf service? Essentially, a looseleaf is an information system which focuses on a specific area of practice. they are invariably bound together in notebooks that allow for easy supplementation as the related body of information grows. Looseleaf services collect case opinions, statutes and regulations specific to a particular area of the law and bind them together to provide one central resource for practicing lawyers to stay abreast of evolving trends in the special area of the law in which they practice. In their print form, looseleafs are organized by layered indexing of the material by subject matter. Since the looseleaf is already a highly focused collection of materials, the indexing can be very detailed. This indexing approach is necessary since it permits the researcher to locate older information contained within the binding along with newer information that has been recently supplemented and which may require a new category incapable of fitting into the previous index. Yes, finding information in a looseleaf can be complicated and time consuming, but is made dramatically easier if you read the "How To Use section first. though all looseleaf services are organized by subject, one may be different from another. Reading the particular instructions of the looseleaf you are using is a must. Looseleaf services came about not just because they simplified the research task of practicing lawyers, but also because they could produce the needed information quickly. With the advent of on-line legal research systems, the speed factor for supplying printed materials to the marketplace has become almost irrelevant. Looseleafs are still an excellent resource though, because they provide an efficient research vehicle for practitioners in highly specialized areas. The big advantage for on-line researchers, especially the blind or visually impaired, is that the often complex indexing found in the print versions are unnecessary because you can search whole collections directly using key terms or natural language. Lexis has a variety of looseleaf-like services on-line which deal with special areas of the law like tax and environment. In their "FEDTAX" library, for example, there is a file called "TNT" which stands for Tax Notes Today. this is similar to other commercial looseleafs in print dealing with tax law. The "TNT" file is updated daily with new cases, federal regulations and other specific materials important to practicing tax lawyers seeking the most current information. Westlaw has similar databases on its service. The precise number and type of the particular looseleaf-like services available on Lexis and Westlaw is beyond the scope of this Electronic Pathfinder. Most important to blind or visually impaired legal researchers is to be aware that such focused services exist in the library and on-line should they be needed. CITATORS Coke is to soda what Shepard's is to citators. The Shepard's citator is a comprehensive system of case citation retrieval. In a Shepard's volume, you can look up a particular case citation to see a list of all other cases that have referred to the case you are checking. This is of course elemental in any legal research project since you must know whether or not a case you intend to rely upon is still good law. A separate Shepard's volume exists for each different case reporter. So, if you have an official citation to a case, you must be certain that the Shepard's volume is the one that matches the reporter from which your cite comes. This is very important because the list of cases that have referred to the citation you are checking is derived from the same reporter that has reported the case you are checking. This means that the list of cases you ultimately find that have referred to your case will necessarily be different from the list generated using another cite for this same case. Shepard's in its print form can be quite cumbersome. Each citation of a case listed that refers to the particular case you are checking will be accompanied by a letter indicating the status of that case vis-a-vis the case you are checking (i.e., O=overruled, A=affirmed, etc...). A small number will follow each citation in the list which indicates which headnote constituted the principle legal issue followed or overruled by that case. Shepardizing is really a visual process and is much better understood through practice than commentary. Lexis and Westlaw make the whole process of Shepardizing a case very simple. The researcher can either enter the service directly while on-line and follow the obvious instructions on the screen or, even better, can use Westlaw's "JUMP" feature or Lexis's "LINK" option to directly Shepardize any case citation found within a particular case you may be reading. Electronic Shepardizing is both quick and efficient on-line and widely preferred by most legal researchers over the traditional method. Further, Lexis provides another citator service produced by Lawyers Cooperative Inc. called "AUTO-CITE." This service in some ways is superior to Shepard's since it only exists in electronic form and provides information more quickly than does Shepard's which must be physically published before it is electronically loaded onto Lexis. The "AUTO-CITE" service also gives the subsequent history of the case you are checking which can of course be quite helpful. Westlaw maintains its own citator service called "INSTA-CITE." West's citator is much like Lexis's "AUTO-CITE" in that it too makes information more quickly available than Shepard's and provides subsequent histories too. The Crowder case which was so on-point to the hypothetical problem presented in this Pathfinder, is simply too current to have been referenced by other cases. Surely though, any other cases found which could be helpful to the hypothetical problem here could be easily checked on any of the electronic citators available on either Westlaw or Lexis. GAINING A BACKGROUND LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS I did not use any legal encyclopedias in the researching of the hypothetical problem in this Electronic Pathfinder. The two big legal encyclopedias, C.J.S. and Am. Jur. 2d are not available on either Westlaw or Lexis. Some limited information in the area of tax can be found in a C.J.S. file on Westlaw but no other topics are available. Lexis provides full A.L.R. Fed. listings, which emulate the legal encyclopedias. The A.L.R. Fed. database on Lexis can be very helpful for researching a multitude of common law issues. The A.L.R Fed. articles contain helpful summaries of law and are annotated with references to other Lawyer's Cooperative products such as Am. Jur. 2d, though this may appear to be a catch twenty-two because Am. Jur. 2d is not available on-line, it is still helpful since you could still use the citation to get the printed selection from a law library and then scan the pages into your computer. Both Westlaw and Lexis provide law dictionaries on-line too. Westlaw surpasses Lexis in this category since it offers the full Black's Law Dictionary on line with easy to use, quick searching of terms. Lexis offers another, less comprehensive dictionary on-line from Oxford University Press, called A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. This dictionary is in the "LEXREF" library in a file denoted, "DMLU." While still functional, the Lexis dictionary is more difficult to access since it requires the use of the "SEGMENTS" key to let the database know that the word being sought is a "TERM." Precise instructions on how to use either of these legal dictionaries is available on-line. LEGAL PERIODICALS and LAW REVIEWS Legal periodicals and law reviews are very accessible on- line in both Lexis and Westlaw. For this Pathfinder, I used Lexis exclusively to avoid wasting time on redundancy. Lexis has a library dedicated to law reviews and legal periodicals called, "LAWREV." In this library it is possible to access a number of particular files ranging from individual law reviews to group files by type of review. Lexis does not have every law review and journal produced actually on-line. Most of the significant ones, however, are available. Westlaw has many of the same reviews and journals on-line but each system has some that the other does not. On both services, the databases date back only to about the early 1980s. Lexis also maintains a legal periodical index on-line entitled, "LGLIND" which contains full listings of all legal periodicals dating back to the 1970s. This on-line index is very helpful in locating relevant law review notes and legal periodicals from a whole spectrum of sources. If you find a particular article or note in this index, it may be available in full text on Lexis or Westlaw, but even if it is not, you could use the citation to secure the printed version of the article for later scanning. The "LGLIND" file on Lexis is actually an electronic version of the Current Law Index produced in print by Wilson Publishing and widely used in law libraries everywhere. The on-line indices are completely reliable and offer great access to the blind or visually impaired researcher. I did find a number of very helpful law review articles related to the constitutional issues surrounding dog guide access to Hawaii using Lexis's on-line databases. The number of notes and articles available on-line dealing with the constitutional issues of equal protection and right to travel were so many that I have elected to list only a sampling in Appendix C of this Pathfinder. MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPERS and MAGAZINES Non-legal newspapers and magazines can be an excellent source of general background information in the area of your legal problem. The blind researcher has superior access to literally hundreds of newspapers and magazines from around the nation and around the world through the use of the "NEWS" service. The "NEWS" library, formerly called "NEXIS" is the broad news and business library on Lexis and is fully accessible using either Boolean or natural language searching. Using Lexis's "SEGMENT" option, you can easily delimit your search by title, by-line, date, author and more. Simply pressing the "SEGMENTS" key while in the "NEWS" area reveals numerous ways to limit your search and thus make you more efficient and thorough. In "NEWS" you may search individual newspapers like The Dallas Morning News or magazines like U.S. News & World Report either by their respective file names or by groups of files which are plainly identified in a menu on the "NEWS" Library screen. The beauty of broad news searching in this electronic database is that it is almost unlimited and offers such a wide range of sources that you will invariably find something related to the subject you are researching. Like many of the other areas of Lexis, it takes actual experience on-line to master the vagaries of searching the "NEWS" library. I was able to find a great deal of information to shore up my knowledge of guide dog travel using the "NEWS" database and particularizing my search with specific segments and search restrictions. Despite my attempt at limiting my inquiry in the "NEWS" library with its many hundreds of sources on-line, my search resulted in so many articles found that I elected to partially list them in Appendix D of this Electronic Pathfinder. SPECIAL ORGANIZATIONS and CONTACTS No matter what your legal research problem is, you can always benefit by talking directly with knowledgeable people in the field. If you knew nothing about dog guides or use of them by the blind or visually impaired at the outset of the hypothetical problem in this Pathfinder, where would you look to find the people who could teach you? One excellent resource, with more than eighty-thousand listings, is Gale Research Inc.'s, Encyclopedia of Associations. This resource is not available on Lexis but is accessible through Westlaw. The database, identified as "DB EOA" is actually a Dialogue database which is among the hundreds of unique and potentially helpful databases owned by Dialogue but accessible through Westlaw acting as a gateway. I was able to narrowly tailor my search using terms like "dog" and guide" and "blind." From this list, I found one group particularly helpful. Guide Dog Users Incorporated of Watertown, Massachusetts, generously introduced me to a number of people with first-hand knowledge of the problem of guide dog access to Hawaii. Ultimately, they connected me with an attorney practicing in Honolulu, Hawaii who was himself representing two dog guide users who were effected by Hawaii's animal quarantine when they were refused access to that state with their dogs. A list of associations particular to the guide dog users' community may be found at the end of this Pathfinder in Appendix E. ACCESS TIPS Overall, I have found Lexis to be superior to Westlaw as an on-line research tool. Both systems are really quite good, but Lexis is organized in a more logical sequential fashion for a researcher using a speech synthesizer. Frankly, Westlaw uses too many columns that can disorient the blind researcher who is not expecting to find information in this awkward format. I have found my MasterTouch touch tablet, from Humanware Inc. (telephone 1-800-722-3393) to be very helpful in handling not only the columns of Westlaw's menu screens, but also the many tables used by both on-line systems for purposes such as Shepardizing. My MasterTouch screen reading program was also very flexible in that it permitted me to create and use verbal templates that matched those used by Westlaw and Lexis while on-line. This feature allowed me to "freeze" my keyboard and learn the specific on-line function of any of the function keys of the IBM keyboard. When you learn how many Lexis and Westlaw features are controlled by different function keys, you quickly come to appreciate this level of software sophistication. Alternatively, it should be noted that Lexis and Westlaw can be fully controlled by typing the abbreviated commands directly on the screen. Both Lexis and Westlaw each provide a sort of on-line manual which can be quite helpful in locating particular files and services. On Lexis, you can go to the "GUIDE" library and follow the simple instructions on finding specific databases and publications. On Westlaw, you need only select the database identifier, "DB IDEN" to search for specific files within that system. While both systems offer literally hundreds of different databases, Westlaw acts as a gateway to a family of other electronic services known as Dialogue. Student access is limited by the particular subscription maintained by their law school. This means that practicing attorneys frequently have broader access to more sources than does the law student. further, students use of free language searching may be limited to particular hours of the day, again depending upon the particular subscription being used. Whether a student or practitioner, it is advisable to gain access to both systems at a baud rate of 9600. This affords efficient document delivery and quick mobility while on-line. Fast modem access speeds are particularly significant for the practicing lawyer who is not using Westlaw or Lexis for free (as do students) and must pay varying, but always high, connection fees. Any practicing attorney who is a member of the American Blind Lawyers Association (ABLA) is entitled to significant price reductions with Lexis, including a reduced subscription fee, lower per search charges, unlimited free connect time, and free document delivery to either a hard drive (preferable) or attached printer. For more information, write to: American Blind Lawyers Association, c/o American Council of the Blind, 1155 15th St. N.W., Ste. 720, Washington, DC 20005. At the time of this writing, the president is David Adams, Esq., and can be reached at his Atlanta, Georgia home telephone (404) 297-7625. Annual membership dues in this organization is $15.00 for students. the dues for practicing lawyers varies depending upon number of years in practice. Blind or visually impaired students should check with their law school library to see just what CD rom or other electronic legal research services are available to them. Lexis and Westlaw, while very accessible and efficient as research systems, are not complete in every way. Your own library will often offer electronic access to certain resources not otherwise available. Wherever you attend law school or practice law, you should investigate all of the electronic access possibilities. Finally, it is important to remember that this Electronic Pathfinder is by no means the last word on legal research for the blind or visually impaired. Lexis and Westlaw are growing daily, adding more and more sources of information. The approaches to electronic legal research for the blind or visually impaired articulated in this Pathfinder are sound. Less reliable though, is the information on the particular systems, libraries and data files mentioned herein since these are in a constant state of flux and will surely change as time passes. More important to the blind legal researcher is the knowledge that such electronic systems are out there, accessible and waiting to be explored. APPENDIX A Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1991. ABA Journal, December, 1991 77 Dec. ABA J. 66 SECTION: The Future of the Law Firm TITLE: TECHNOLOGY 2001 AUTHOR: Jim Meyer TEXT: In 1891, when J. Harris Morgan's granddaddy started the family's Greenville, Texas, law practice, all his contracts and pleadings were drafted in longhand. He claimed the finest penmanship in the state. When Morgan's father came into the practice and hired a secretary, to whom he dictated his work, she produced the documents on a typewriter. The younger Morgan insisted that it was far more efficient. The elder Morgan, however, considered handing over his work unprofessional. "My granddaddy refused to have his documents done on a typewriter until the day he died," says J. Harris Morgan. "And only the Great Reaper made the practice more efficient." When J. Harris Morgan came into the practice, he suggested that a dictating machine would be more efficient than taking two people's time. His father considered that to be not only unprofessional, but also demeaning to his secretary. He would continue to dictate until the Great Reaper again interceded. Morgan, now an elder statesman of the law, has been an attorney for 41 years. "I learned how to type and how to use a computer. I am not going to be like my father and grandfather and wait for the Great Reaper." Technology changes at mindnumbing speed. The toolkit of the 21st-century lawyer, which will contain items that are now being developed, would have seemed like science fiction five years ago. Optical readers and imaging systems, for example, will be far more sophisticated, enabling lawyers to digitize and store even handwritten notes, as well as the spoken word. Today's convenience tools -- like portable computers, cellular phones and fax machines -- will increasingly be combined into (and sold as) a single, transportable bundle. High-level expert and document-assembly systems will allow lawyers to "leverage" knowledge, with practice-specific programs enabling lower-level personnel to create first drafts of complicated documents. It may not be long before communication systems using video, electronic mail and sophisticated telecommunications (via fiber optics and satellite grids) all but eliminate the need for business travel. Areas of great promise but little current application, such as neural networking (in which a computer can simulate the process of learning), interactive video, voice-activated computers, and virtual reality are now attracting large amounts of venture capital for research and development. We can only guess how far-reaching their effect will be on the practice of law. Of course, some people guess better than others, their speculations being informed by a detailed knowledge of the past and a broad-based familiarity with their field. We have assembled a group of six experts, all futurists to some extent, to provide their ideas on the effect of technology on the practice of law in the year 2001. They hold widely divergent visions of the future; the one point all six agree upon, however, is that the greatest beneficiary of the technological revolution will be the sole practitioner. Technology, they say, will continue to serve as an equalizer, eliminating many of the resource advantages that large firms now enjoy. Charles Pear is a visiting professor at the IBM Center for Law and Computers, University of British Columbia School of Law, Vancouver: At the IBM Center for Law and Computers, we are working on expert systems, which you'll see a lot of in eight years. In a system called Whiplash, you feed in the details of a particular case. The program then asks questions of both the plaintiff and defendant, both of whom type in their answers. Once this is done, it will look at a history of other cases and say, "I think your case is worth this many dollars. Would you like to see the range of cases on which I relied?" The system has proven to be a good settlement-conference tool. Also under development is TradeRef, an online expert system that provides consultation about trade law. In addition, the center's Artificial Intelligence Research Project, under the direction of the law faculty, has developed an expert system called Hearsay, which evaluates a particular hearsay statement for admissibility. Voice-activated tools will be used soon. Instead of telling your secretary, "I need this file, do a notice of deposition for this," you'll be able to issue the same commands directly to your computer: "Prepare this document and serve it to everybody, electronically." Hardware will change dramatically. We're going to see marvelous new screens -- large, flat screens, allowing lots of open sessions at once, each legible. We can get back to the lawyer's standard desk, with piles of work, only now in computer images. Touchscreens will become very common. James Eidelman is a law practice systems consultant in Ann Arbor, Mich.: Computers will have a limited impact on lawyers, because the two most important things lawyers do for a living are acting as advocates in front of a jury and serving as client advisers -- the human components to the business. Because of that, technology will not take over to the extent that it will in other industries. Computers can support me and give me better evidence, but they will not make me sound like William Jennings Bryant or Clarence Darrow. They will not make me a better orator. It's difficult to predict the impact of technology on society and the practice of law. Will we need 600,000 lawyers in the future? How many will go out of the business because there is no longer a profit margin in billing the old-fashioned way? Imaging and optical disks will replace filing cabinets; voice recognition will replace the dictation machine; and case-management systems that integrate with document assembly will automate paralegal tracking. We are on the verge of breakthroughs in accurate detection strategies. In 10 or 20 years, there will be a red light above the witness chair. When the witness is lying, the light will go on. There also will be a version you can hook up to your telephone that will let you know when the person at the other end is or is not telling the truth. It will work through a combination of sound prints, computer analysis of voice patterns, and other technical advances. The computer will be an electronic formbook. Your partners will be the best specialists in each field. Instead of Nimmer on copyright, you'll get Nimmer on copyright forms. You'll be asked a series of questions based on an expert system -- sort of an in-house specialist down the electronic hall. It's clear courtroom presentations like virtual reality and computer-generated reconstruction will be a standard thing used by both sides in a case. You'll see the knife slip. You'll see the chemical reaction. You'll see the cars crash right in front of the jury. Artificial intelligence [systems designed to mimic the workings of the human brain] will be embedded in every program, but it won't be obvious. It will be incorporated in the tools we use. Charles Saxon and Layman Allen in Ann Arbor have developed one such program that will ask you the facts about your case and apply the law to it. If you can express a statute without ambiguities, the process could be reduced to a computer analysis. A police officer, for example, could use a computer in his patrol car to figure out quickly if he has a chargeable offense. The biggest, most overlooked issue is how changes in society will affect lawyers. For example, if robotics change the way farmers make a living, that will change the way lawyers practice agricultural law. Demetrios Dimitriou is a sole practitioner in San Francisco, and chair of the Futurist Committee of the ABA Law Practice Management Section: Ten years from now, my guess is you'll see more computers on lawyers' desks. Phones might be more sophisticated, incorporating fiber optics, making conference calls easier, maybe allowing faxing. Most lawyers rendering services have to deal with touch and feel. The number of people who are capable of functioning professionally without mixing with people is very small. Law will not be practiced at home, in the car, on a mountaintop. Having the technological capability is a much different matter from choosing to use it. If you're a partner in a law firm and you work away from the office, and no one ever sees you, they won't know who you are. I don't think artificial intelligence is ever going to work the way people forecast. It will be virtually impossible to debug a system, so the level of confidence in work product will be downgraded. I don't think you'll see any wholesale changes in the criminal justice system. More and more criminal courts will have terminals on the judges' desks, and the recordkeeping of the criminal justice system will be automated. Lawyers will have access to their data bases and thus save court appearance time. On the civil side, tentative rulings will be available on electronic bulletin boards. This is existing technology, and people will become comfortable and familiar with its use. But as far as integrating major innovative technological breakthroughs into the courts, I don't think so. The public is not willing to fund that. Ron Staudt is director of computer development at Chicago Kent College of Law: Before 1980, a law school class was composed of very smart people who chose law school because, at least in part, they weren't particularly interested in quantitative techniques. This led to a career that was more humanistic or philosophically based. By and large, they weren't particularly thrilled with the technology explosion. Now there's a clear understanding that whatever your career choice, it will involve the use of computational devices. More and more technologically sophisticated people are coming to law schools -- programmers, systems analysts, consultants -- all deciding law is interesting to them. Nowadays, students emerge from law school with electronic access to a law library as part of their personal way to work. Advances in technology will bring flatter and less difficult learning curves. In the early stages of this technology change, you had to learn an awful lot about the innards of the computer and its operating system. Increasingly, you need to know less. Handwriting and voice-recognition tools will become readily available. The yellow pad will become a pen-based slate that is a very powerful computer. Full-motion video and audio will be delivered to the desktop on the same screen now used for word processing and research. With that advantage, computer-assisted instruction in continuing education will begin to come together. The key is the ability to deliver an attractive, powerful, multimedia presentation to the desktop. A new breed of law student is emerging from universities today. They're comfortable with tech. By 2001, about half the people in the profession will have a similar comfort level. You can't avoid these technologies and remain an active, competitive member of this profession. Either you're doing it, or someone has got to be doing it for you. Walter Duflock is editor-in-chief of The Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal: The office will be a place to come for personal meetings, not for access to resources, so client contact will become the main focus for office design in the future. You won't see a lot of people going in to work five days a week -- maybe two or three days, when they'll meet clients and have lunch with associates. Flex-time will become a real probability in the legal environment, much as it currently is in software companies. Forget express mail; you want it now, you got it. That's how it will be. Companies will have multiple phone lines put in, so that there'll be a teleconference going on at the same time you have machines up and running, with modems and faxes transferring information back and forth. It will change the time frame of discovery, because firms will be able to exchange documents a lot quicker. Computer connectivity will become universal. I'll be able to send from my NeXT to your IBM, to a judge who operates in chambers with a computer and fax. Litigation departments will have dedicated phone lines, so the court can reach them 24 hours a day with requests for additional documents, or to advise them of judicial decisions. Neural network devices, which are now being developed and can mimic the human ability to apply a set of rules to a variety of fact patterns, will enter the foray in the form of computerized law machines. Think of a contracts computer, where facts are plugged in and a contract decision is made. Taken one step further, a neural network might function as an automated judge. You'll go into traffic court before a computer with a touch screen and never see another human. It's real high-tech law. A traffic case is usually two parties disagreeing, but at heart it comes down to, were you speeding? Was the light red? If there's a disagreement, the neural network can weigh that. Farfetched as it sounds, the technology is close. With the overloads in today's court systems, the need is certainly there. High tech also will present new windows for abuse. For instance, right now forensic experts swear they can tell the difference between a legitimate photograph and a doctored photograph. Some software programs are getting so good that I can almost guarantee a time when you will not be able to spot doctored evidence. That's tough for the legal environment. The Federal Rules of Evidence are based on intent, and if you can't tell if the guy doctored it, you're not going to prove that intent. Another problem with graphic capabilities is the expense of the best production values in a courtroom presentation. What are the proper limits for the use of this technology? The judge will have to weigh the prejudicial value against the probative value to assure a fair trial. Ira D. Moskatel is a solo practitioner in Los Angeles: Technology will be a tool to free us to practice the way Abraham Lincoln did, getting back to the essence of the law. What's reasonable to expect 10 years from now? Personal communications will have changed substantially, making possible a video-conferencing medium. With fiber optics, we have the band width to allow full-wall visual displays, like in the Pacific Bell TV commercials. We may be, however, a generation away from the communication skills needed to be comfortable negotiating without sitting across from each other. There must be a generation of adults who develop leadership before there is a generation of juveniles who learn it as second nature. People are going to assume they can talk to anybody in the world, anytime they want. Communication technologies will be taken for granted the way we take radio and television for granted. Technological tools will broaden individual lawyers' ranges of activity and make them less reliant on outside specialists. I will barely have to walk out the door of my office in the year 2001; I barely do today. My office and the adjacent conference room will be the two places I spend my time. This brings us back full circle to the essence of practice. When a man walked in the door of J. Harris Morgan's grandfather's law office in 1892, he'd say, "Mr. Morgan, I have a problem." Before that man left the office one of two things had happened. Either Morgan's grandfather had given him some sound advice, or he would give him a plan of action, after which he would handwrite a document for the man to come back and pick up. Now, with Morgan's commitment to staying current with technological change, that same person could walk into Morgan, Gotcher, and Robinson in the year 2001 and say, "Mr. Morgan, I have a problem." Even if it is a very complicated problem, Morgan will give him a plan of action, some sound advice and a document as he walks out the door. APPENDIX B 1. Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1991. ABA Journal, December, 1991, 77 Dec. ABA J. 66, 2667 words, Feature; The Future of the Law Firm, TECHNOLOGY 2001, Jim Meyer 2. Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1993. ABA Journal, September, 1993, 79 Sept. ABA J. 42, 937 words, Developments, How In-House Counsel Use Computers: ABA survey confirms technology widespread in corporate law departments, Anne Stein 3. Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1993. ABA Journal, August, 1993, 79 Aug. ABA J. 52, 2229 words, The Future of the Practice, FUTUREDOCS: THE VIDEO REVOLUTION IN BRIEFS, CONTRACTS AND WILLS, Richard D. Marks 4. Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1993. ABA Journal, August, 1993, 79 Aug. ABA J. 56, 3606 words, Technology, THE NEW LAWYERING: Microsoft's Bill Gates Looks at Computer's Impact, Jim Meyer 5. Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1993. ABA Journal, July, 1993, 79 Jul. ABA. J. 65, 2201 words, ABA Expo; Technology Preview, Preview of products and services displayed at the ABA Expo -- in conjunction with the ABA Annual Meeting in New York AUGUST 6-9, 1993 6. Copyright (c) American Bar Association, 1992. ABA Journal, February, 1992, 78 Feb. ABA J. 90, 889 words, In re Technology, Hello . . . Goodbye: New products that make your phone a mean machine, Jim Meyer APPENDIX C 1. Copyright (c) The Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University, 1989. Stanford Law Review, July, 1989, 41 Stan. L. Rev. 1557, 27496 words, NOTE: State Parochialism, the Right to Travel, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV., Bryan H. Wildenthal * 2. Copyright (c) The American University Law Review 1991. The American University, SUMMER, 1991, 40 Am. U.L. Rev. 1307, 34571 words, ARTICLE: EQUAL PROTECTION: THE JURISPRUDENCE OF DENIAL AND EVASION [+], DONALD E. LIVELY * and STEPHEN PLASS ** 3. LGLIND/LEGAL RESOURCE INDEX (TM) Copyright (c) 1991 Information Access Co., Wildenthal, Bryan H., State parochialism, the right to travel, and the privileges and immunities clause of Article IV, Stanford Law Review, Vol 41, No 6, pp 1557-1595, July, 1989, 07580494 4. LGLIND/LEGAL RESOURCE INDEX (TM) Copyright (c) 1991 Information Access Co., Justices trivialize right to travel ... (from the New York Times), The Los Angeles Daily Journal, Vol 97, p 4, COLUMN-NUMBER 1, COLUMN-LENGTH 10 inches, July 3, 1984, 03340683 5. LGLIND/LEGAL RESOURCE INDEX (TM) Copyright (c) 1990 Information Access Co., Grossman, Maurine, The right to travel takes a wrong turn, Human Rights, Vol 11, No 1, pp 34(8), January, 1983, - Winter, 02584862 6. Copyright (c) 1993 Howard University. Howard Law Journal, 1993, 1993 How. L.J. 91, 2599 words, CURRENT DEVELOPMENT: AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990: A COMPLIANCE OVERVIEW, REBECCA NEWMAN STRANDBERG + 7. Copyright (c) Fordham Law Review 1990. Fordham Law Review, October, 1990, 1 Fordham L. Rev. 113, 14058 words, NOTE: UNDUE HARDSHIP: TITLE I OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT., Julie Brandfield APPENDIX D 1. Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1994, Thursday, Home Edition, South Bay; Part J; Page 3, 798 words, TRAINING PUPPIES FOR A CAREER OF AIDING OTHERS, By MARY GUTHRIE, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES 2. The Gazette (Montreal), March 14, 1994, Monday, FINAL EDITION, WOMAN NEWS; TURNING POINT: A STORY OF STRUGGLE AND CHANGE; Pg. C3, 1111 words, Taking charge of her destiny; Gisele Vezina-Dupont is a blind mother of four whose work for the Mira Foundation's guide-dog program earned her an Order of Canada, DOROTHY GUINAN; FREELANCE, QUEBEC 3. The Toronto Star, January 15, 1994, Saturday, FINAL EDITION, LIFE; Pg. L2, 912 words, Poodle pioneer gives freedom to judge with failing sight, BY WANITA BATES (OTTAWA CITIZEN) SOUTHAMSTAR NETWORK, OTTAWA 4. Daily Mail, December 18, 1993, Saturday, Pg. 9, 1640 words, THE MAN WHO GAVE ME THE GIFT OF SIGHT; WEEKEND, Maisha Frost 5. Exceptional Children, December, 1993, Vol. 60 ; No. 3 ; Pg. 215; ISSN: 0014-4029, 7962 words, Self-determination for persons with disabilities: choice, risk, and dignity., Schloss, Patrick J. ; Alper, Sandra ; Jayne, Donna 6. Newsday, July 21, 1993, Wednesday, NORTH SHORE EDITION, NEWS; Pg. 25, 540 words, Family Helps Walk Pups Through Guide Program, By Josephine Jahier. STAFF WRITER, GUIDE DOG FOUNDATION; HILDEE; DOG; TRAINING; PATRICIA SMYTH; ANTHONY BLASSO 7. Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1993, Tuesday, EVENING UPDATE EDITION, NEWS; Pg. 8; ZONE: C; EVENING. Reader, 858 words, Guide dogs a rare breed among blind, By Laura Randall, National Geographic for AP Special Features, MORRISTOWN, N.J. 8. St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 1993, Thursday, City Edition, PASCO TIMES; Pg. 1, A guided trek 9. The Washington Post, February 15, 1993, Sec E; pg 5, 990 words, Group training retailers to help the visually impaired, Marianne Kyriakos, Washington; DC; US; South Atlantic APPENDIX E 1. American Council of the Blind (ACB) 1155 15th St. NW, Ste. 720, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 467-5081 2. Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation (FGDF) FORMERLY: Fidelco Breeder's Foundation; Fidelco Foundation PO Box 142, Bloomfield, CT 06002 (203) 243-5200 3. Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind (GDFB) FORMERLY: Second Sight, Guiding Eyes, Guide Dog Foundation 371 E. Jericho Tpke., Smithtown, NY 11787 (516) 265-2121 4. Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) FORMERLY: Coordinating Committee of Guide Dog Users; National Society of Guide Dog Users 57 Grandview Ave., Watertown, MA 02172 (617) 926-9198 5. Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) PO Box 151200, San Rafael, CA 94915-1200 (415) 499-4000 6. Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) 611 Granite Springs Rd., Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 (914) 245-4024 7. International Guiding Eyes (IGE) 13445 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342 (818) 362-5834 8. Leader Dogs for the Blind (LDB) FORMERLY: Leader Dog League for the Blind ; Path-Finder Guide Dogs 1039 S. Rochester Rd., Rochester, MI 48063 (313) 651-9011 9. National Organization for the Rights of Guide Dogs (NORGD) 3091 Anderson Pl., Decatur, GA 30033 10. Pilot Dogs (PD) 625 W. Town St., Columbus, OH 4321