Based on a presentation given at the BIALL Annual Conference in July 2022, this article by Paul M... more Based on a presentation given at the BIALL Annual Conference in July 2022, this article by Paul Magrath provides an overview of how technology including artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming legal practice and the conduct of litigation, followed by more detailed consideration by way of a case study of ICLR's development of its AI-driven search tool, Case Genie. The article examines the problems that it was designed to solve, particularly the legal researcher's anxiety over ‘unknown unknowns’, and the options for further development of the technology and its application in other areas.
Explains why the Court of Protection is operating a transparency pilot scheme which will see most... more Explains why the Court of Protection is operating a transparency pilot scheme which will see most hearings open to the public and the media. Considers the difficulties of balancing public and private interests and the specialist nature of the court's jurisdiction. Highlights instances of media reporting which illustrate the need for transparency in the Family Court and the Court of Protection.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on the conduct of legal business generally, bu... more The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on the conduct of legal business generally, but nowhere perhaps more drastically than on the conduct of litigation in the courts. This article by Paul Magrath considers how the judiciary, court services and practitioners of England and Wales have been working together to continue to administer justice in spite of the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, and the challenges that have been faced in managing court information and reporting court proceedings.
Beginning in the early 1800s, New York has followed a comprehensive model of law-reporting with o... more Beginning in the early 1800s, New York has followed a comprehensive model of law-reporting with official law reports. This article by Charles Dewey Cole, Jr. looks at the influence of James Kent in establishing comprehensive law-reporting in New York, reviews the 1938 legislation that created the law reporting bureau and charged the state reporter with reporting almost all appellate court and selective trial court decisions, describes the state reporter's current publication practices and considers both the advantages of and the challenges presented by comprehensive official law-reporting. The article is based on a June 2019 presentation given at the annual conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians in Bournemouth.
This article by Paul Magrath examines the tensions between data protection and transparency in th... more This article by Paul Magrath examines the tensions between data protection and transparency in the context of a long overdue digital revolution in the courts of England and Wales. Many traditional hearings are being replaced by virtual or video-conference type hearings, and may in time be dealt with by an online court. There are concerns that open justice may suffer. Yet any attempt to remedy this with more transparent scrutiny of court information will need to conform to the stricter data protection regime under GDPR as well as respecting the privacy of litigants and the presumption of innocence. The author is Head of Product Development and Online Content with ICLR and a trustee of the Transparency Project.
This article is written by Paul Magrath who is the Head of Product Development and Online Content... more This article is written by Paul Magrath who is the Head of Product Development and Online Content at the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales (ICLR). His article explores the issues surrounding the custodianship of those public legal documents, such as court judgments, which form primary sources of law but which may also contain private data, and looks at the way custodians of such data can also act as gatekeepers, enhancing or inhibiting access by the public as well as more specialised users. It expands upon an article published by Infolaw.co.uk entitled “Custodians and gatekeepers: maintaining access to public legal information”, and refers to recent case law involving the tension between information in the public domain and the individual's privacy and “right to be forgotten” by search engines. The article also looks at how court documents are made accessible in other jurisdictions and imagines how things might be improved in our own courts, before conc...
In the case of Regina v Tunbridge Wells Health Authority, Ex parte Goodridge and Others, the 24 d... more In the case of Regina v Tunbridge Wells Health Authority, Ex parte Goodridge and Others, the 24 doctors comprising the General Practitioner Committee of the Tonbridge Cottage Hospital successfully challenged a decision, taken by the Tunbridge Wells Health Authority on 12th January, 1988, and confirmed on 29th March, 1988, to close the hospital temporarily from 1st April, 1988, in order to accommodate budget costs.
The case of C v S made legal history, in more ways than one. Less than a week passed between the ... more The case of C v S made legal history, in more ways than one. Less than a week passed between the opening of the plaintiff's case before the judge at first instance and the final dismissal of the plaintiff's appeal by the House of Lords — probably the shortest time a case has ever travelled through the UK judicial system. This was due, notwithstanding the complexity of the medical and legal issues involved, to the extreme urgency of the application. For this was the case in which the putative father of an 18‐week foetus applied for an injunction to restrain the mother, and the health authority concerned, from proceeding with an abortion. He did not succeed. Had he done so, however, the effect might have been catastrophic, since it would effectively place anyone involved in the administration of abortion under the threat of prosecution for a criminal offence (child destruction) carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Based on a presentation given at the BIALL Annual Conference in July 2022, this article by Paul M... more Based on a presentation given at the BIALL Annual Conference in July 2022, this article by Paul Magrath provides an overview of how technology including artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming legal practice and the conduct of litigation, followed by more detailed consideration by way of a case study of ICLR's development of its AI-driven search tool, Case Genie. The article examines the problems that it was designed to solve, particularly the legal researcher's anxiety over ‘unknown unknowns’, and the options for further development of the technology and its application in other areas.
Explains why the Court of Protection is operating a transparency pilot scheme which will see most... more Explains why the Court of Protection is operating a transparency pilot scheme which will see most hearings open to the public and the media. Considers the difficulties of balancing public and private interests and the specialist nature of the court's jurisdiction. Highlights instances of media reporting which illustrate the need for transparency in the Family Court and the Court of Protection.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on the conduct of legal business generally, bu... more The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on the conduct of legal business generally, but nowhere perhaps more drastically than on the conduct of litigation in the courts. This article by Paul Magrath considers how the judiciary, court services and practitioners of England and Wales have been working together to continue to administer justice in spite of the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, and the challenges that have been faced in managing court information and reporting court proceedings.
Beginning in the early 1800s, New York has followed a comprehensive model of law-reporting with o... more Beginning in the early 1800s, New York has followed a comprehensive model of law-reporting with official law reports. This article by Charles Dewey Cole, Jr. looks at the influence of James Kent in establishing comprehensive law-reporting in New York, reviews the 1938 legislation that created the law reporting bureau and charged the state reporter with reporting almost all appellate court and selective trial court decisions, describes the state reporter's current publication practices and considers both the advantages of and the challenges presented by comprehensive official law-reporting. The article is based on a June 2019 presentation given at the annual conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians in Bournemouth.
This article by Paul Magrath examines the tensions between data protection and transparency in th... more This article by Paul Magrath examines the tensions between data protection and transparency in the context of a long overdue digital revolution in the courts of England and Wales. Many traditional hearings are being replaced by virtual or video-conference type hearings, and may in time be dealt with by an online court. There are concerns that open justice may suffer. Yet any attempt to remedy this with more transparent scrutiny of court information will need to conform to the stricter data protection regime under GDPR as well as respecting the privacy of litigants and the presumption of innocence. The author is Head of Product Development and Online Content with ICLR and a trustee of the Transparency Project.
This article is written by Paul Magrath who is the Head of Product Development and Online Content... more This article is written by Paul Magrath who is the Head of Product Development and Online Content at the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales (ICLR). His article explores the issues surrounding the custodianship of those public legal documents, such as court judgments, which form primary sources of law but which may also contain private data, and looks at the way custodians of such data can also act as gatekeepers, enhancing or inhibiting access by the public as well as more specialised users. It expands upon an article published by Infolaw.co.uk entitled “Custodians and gatekeepers: maintaining access to public legal information”, and refers to recent case law involving the tension between information in the public domain and the individual's privacy and “right to be forgotten” by search engines. The article also looks at how court documents are made accessible in other jurisdictions and imagines how things might be improved in our own courts, before conc...
In the case of Regina v Tunbridge Wells Health Authority, Ex parte Goodridge and Others, the 24 d... more In the case of Regina v Tunbridge Wells Health Authority, Ex parte Goodridge and Others, the 24 doctors comprising the General Practitioner Committee of the Tonbridge Cottage Hospital successfully challenged a decision, taken by the Tunbridge Wells Health Authority on 12th January, 1988, and confirmed on 29th March, 1988, to close the hospital temporarily from 1st April, 1988, in order to accommodate budget costs.
The case of C v S made legal history, in more ways than one. Less than a week passed between the ... more The case of C v S made legal history, in more ways than one. Less than a week passed between the opening of the plaintiff's case before the judge at first instance and the final dismissal of the plaintiff's appeal by the House of Lords — probably the shortest time a case has ever travelled through the UK judicial system. This was due, notwithstanding the complexity of the medical and legal issues involved, to the extreme urgency of the application. For this was the case in which the putative father of an 18‐week foetus applied for an injunction to restrain the mother, and the health authority concerned, from proceeding with an abortion. He did not succeed. Had he done so, however, the effect might have been catastrophic, since it would effectively place anyone involved in the administration of abortion under the threat of prosecution for a criminal offence (child destruction) carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
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