Res Ipsa Blog

Bluebook Rule 18 specifies how materials available in electronic formats should be cited. However, merely proving an “available at” citation does not ensure the content you are referencing will be available at the URL on a later date. In the past, printing a hard copy of the URL or saving an image of the site a PDF documents have been the preferred methods to preserve the content being referencing. Now there is a better way to ensure a website is available for future reference exactly the way it was when you made reference to it: Iterasi.

Iterasi allows you to save a complete webpage on a secure, searchable account while retaining all of the site’s dynamic content. Importantly for lawyers, it allows you to “notarize” a website, which provides verification of the authenticity of the saved page. Once Iterasi is installed, you will see the Iterasi buttons in your browser menu, allowing for one-click notarizations and easy access to all the pages you have notarized. As the Iterasi website puts it, “When a user wants to save a page, one click on the Notarize button instantly transfers the page to a secure personal account, providing a high-fidelity copy of the page, including images, forms, transactions, receipts, confirmations and personalized content.”

Unlike bookmarks and favorites, Iterasi ensures the page you saw is available for future reference long after the site content has changed. While some websites like the Internet Archive and Google Cache are able to retrieve cached pages from the internet to show you what a page looked like in the past, (See eg. Yahoo, circa 1998) there is no guarantee the page you need will be cached from the date you need it or cached at all. Notarizing a website through Iterasi ensures you will be able to save all the data on a website. Because Iterasi also retains the interactive capabilities of a website, it is a much better option than saving a webpage as a PDF document. So next time you are using a “available at” citation to an internet source, consider using an Iterasi link as additional way to ensure the content you are referencing will available whenever you need it.

Iterasi, responding to beta-tester feedback, has also implemented an automatic scheduler that allows you to schedule notarizations of websites you want to keep an eye on. You can also add notes and tags to your saved pages so that your notarized pages can be found quickly later. Saved pages can be shared through email, and Iterasi allows the recipient to see the shared webpage without logging into Iterasi.

More about Iterasi:

The one drawback of Iterasi is that currently on the Windows platform is supported, though a Mac version is scheduled to come out later this summer.

Demonstration of Iterasi:

You can sign up for Iterasi and get more information here.
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In Part I of my review of PreCYdent, I described how PreCYdent outperformed both WestLaw and Lexis in “natural language” searches. In Part II of my review, I’ll cover the limitations of this new service, as well as some user-driven features that are unique to PreCYdent.

PreCYdent seeks to provide lawyers, law students, and the general public with free and easy access to legal authority. While WestLaw and Lexis are used primarily by paid subscribers, PreCYdent seeks to provide anyone who has access to the internet a single interface to find all the cases and statutes that are available online and are already in the public domain. However, because PreCYdent is a free service, it does not have the financial resources to license materials that are not already available in the public domain. Herein lies the key drawback to PreCYdent: it does not provide comprehensive coverage of the law. Currently, the coverage of cases on PreCYdent is limited to federal Court of Appeals cases going back to 1950, federal district court cases going back ten to fifteen years, and coverage for state courts varies based on what each court makes available online.

What PreCYdent does do, though, is provide excellent search results for the content and areas it covers. By default, the cases are ranked according to “authority” which basically means by number of times the cases were cited. Search results can also be organized in chronological order or based on the hierarchy of the court that wrote the opinion.

While users do not have to register to use PreCYdent, there are a number of unique features that are available only to registered users. For instance, registered users can rate cases on a five-star system, mark cases as relevant, add keyword “tags” to cases, as well as upload opinions, and statutes. There are also discussion pages where registered users can post comments or questions about cases or statutes. Additionally, PreCYdent has a professional networking feature that allows registered users to connect with other attorneys.

The ability to locate key cases on a given subject makes PreCYdent an excellent place to start a search. However, PreCYdent’s limited coverage means it is not a replacement for services like WestLaw and Lexis. With many new features though, PreCYdent.com will definitely be a site worth keeping an eye on.

My thanks to Professor Thomas A. Smith, cofounder of PrecCYdent.com and a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, for taking the time to answer my questions about PreCYdent.

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With more and more attorneys adopting Macs throughout their offices every day and the business world raving about the cost effectiveness of Mac OS X, today Macs are an accepted and feasible alternative to Windows in the legal community. Having recently made the switch to a Mac myself, I’ve put together a list of the top ten free Max OS X programs that made switching from a PC to a Mac a breeze.

1. Quicksilver
Quicksilver is a program launcher that uses simple commands to rapidly bring up any program, file, folder, or website. Quicksilver learns what files and programs are most often accessed and adapts so that those items are pulled up almost instantaneously when the user starts typing the name of the item in the Quicksilver interface.

For example, in screenshot below, I pulled up the Quicksilver interface with a single keystroke and then by typing in “ex” brought up Excel. Using the tab key I was able to bring up specific commands such as the option to open a specific excel document, move a document to another folder, or email a specific file. Quicksilver is very intuitive and allows users to execute specific commands so quickly that using the built-in OS X dock to open a program seems slow by comparison.

2. Anxiety

Anxiety brings the iCal task list to your desktop. It provides easy access to your to-do list so that tasks can be added or marked as complete without opening your full calendar. Anxiety stays in sync with iCal and disappears when not in use.

3. Caffeine

OS X has a great power saving feature built-in: after a short period of inactivity the screen automatically dims. Caffeine allows you to turn this feature on and off with a single click so that presentations can be run without interruption. It also prevents your Mac from going to sleep or starting the screensaver.

4. Growl

Growl provides unobtrusive notification messages from various programs that run on OS X, including Adium, Firefox, and iTunes. They simply pop up as semi-transparent notifications on the top right corner of your screen and then disappear.

5. Adium

Adium is by far the best instant messaging program I have ever used. You can seamlessly send messages to your friends using various protocols including AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, and MSN Messenger. Adium also supports tabbed conversations so you can keep all your conversations in a single window.

6. Smultron

While there are a number of free text editors available for OS X, my favorite is Smultron. Smultron allows you to have multiple documents open at the same time in an easy-to-use tabbed interface. Another popular free text editor for OS X is TextWrangler while users who want a word processing application with features closer to what Word or Pages offers, Bean is worth checking out.

7. Skim

Skim is a PDF reader that is cut above Preview, the default viewer in OS X, because of Skim’s enhanced markup capabilities. You can easily add notes, highlight portions the document, and quickly jump from one marked-up section to the next through a convenient side panel. Skim also allows you to create presentations and then run the presentations using the Apple Remote.

8. VLC
VLC is media player that supports most modern digital video formats including the DVD format and various streaming protocols. Installing VLC will save you the trouble of having to find a compatible player every time you need to play a new media format.

9. iStat Menu

One of my favorite features in Vista is the pop-up calendar that is displayed when you click on the time in the taskbar. iStat Menu brings that feature to OS X. It also allows you to display multiple time zones, open your iCal calendar, and add additional menus that display everything from the temperature of your Mac to the remaining space on your hard drives.

10. Rachota

Rachota allows users to track the time spent on various projects. Rachota can also summarize how much time was spent on each project and provide helpful time-maximizing tips.

The new iPhone is set to be unveiled in less than two weeks. Here are the top new features of the second generation iPhone:

1. Browse Westlaw and Lexis Faster: 3G Connectivity

The new iPhone will run on a “3G” or third-generation network. While that translates to speeds of up to 42 Mbps, (think ten times faster than DSL or Cable), here in the United States, we likely see only a fraction of that. Initially, we will see speeds approaching the speed of your home DSL or cable connection. By the end of

the year, speeds should increase five-fold. Even at the lower speeds though, the improvement over the current offering will be dramatic, and you will finally be able to access Westlaw or Lexis on your iPhone without waiting five minutes for a page to load. It will also mean you will be able to upload large documents and multimedia files quickly. Fortune reports that only 73% of the 3G network is currently in place, but AT&T is quickly rolling about the remainder of the network.

2. When You Can’t Be There in Person: Video-conferencing

The increase in speeds will allow the new iPhones to run full-fledged video conferences, something that the current model is not natively capable of. There are also rumors that the new iPhone may have a front-facing camera to support video-conferencing.

3. Getting Where You Need to Go: GPS

The new iPhone will have turn-by-turn GPS directions. The current model triangulates you position by using cell phone towers, but it can’t really pinpoint your position, it only gives you a rough idea of where you are. This new feature will allow you to get rid of yet another gadget: your GPS device, adding to list of things your iPhone replaces: your GPS device, you phone, and of course, your mp3 player.

Unfortunately, the iPhone is still only available for AT&T. (Sprint users should check out the upcoming Sprint Instinct, which offers many similar features.) The new iPhone is an exciting addition to the Apple family and Apple expects over ten million units to be sold.

Photo: Engagdet

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Update: Here is Steve Job’s keynote presentation squeezed into one minute.

Sending a meeting request through Outlook is an easy way to coordinate schedules and pick meeting times. Have you ever wished there was a way to easily schedule meetings with individuals that don’t use Outlook? Now there is: whenisgood.net allows you to highlight the dates and times you are available to meet, and then have your highlighted calender sent to you by email which you can then forward to any number of recipients. Each recipient can then remove the time slots they are not available, leaving only times where everyone is available. The calender can also be set to reflect local time zones, which makes scheduling things like conference calls a breeze.

The one minor gripe I have with the service is that there is not convenient way to jump a couple of months ahead in the calendar. Luckily, it does display 15 days at a time so if you are scheduling meetings in the near future, this won’t be an issue for you.