Same-Sex Marriages: Legal Issues
BY: Alison M. Smith, Legislative Attorney Report No. RL31994 Subjects: Families; Law; Minorities Congressional Research Service Reports, 111th Congress (8/18/2010; Posted: 9/8/2010)
Summary
ABA: Justice is the Business of Government (JBiz) Taskforce
In September 2009, the Executive Committee of the ABA Board of Governors (“BOG”) approved the formation of a joint Task Force of the ABA Standing Committee on Judicial Independence (“SCJI”) and the National Center of State Courts (“NCSC”) to follow up on recommendations made at the May 2009 ABA Summit Conference, “Justice is the Business of Government,” in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Justice is the Business of Government (“JBiz”) Task Force is co-chaired by Mary C. McQueen, President of the NCSC; H. Thomas Wells, Jr., ABA President (2008-2009), and Edward W. Madeira, Jr., SCJI Special Advisor. Jack L. Brown, immediate past Chair of the ABA Judicial Division (“JD”), chairs the JBiz subcommittee on principles and standards relating to state court funding.
JBiz members additionally include: David Adkins, Executive Director, Council of State Governments; Hon. Louraine C. Arkfeld, Presiding Judge (retired), Tempe Municipal Court (1994-2010); Hon. Russell Carparelli, Colorado Court of Appeals; Hon. Ernestine S. Gray, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court; Steven C. Hollon, Administrative Director, Supreme Court of Ohio and past President, Conference of State Court Administrators (2009-2010); Hon. David A. Horowitz, Chair, ABA JD Lawyers Conference; Donald Murray, Senior Legislative Director, Justice and Public Safety at National Association of Counties; David Quam, Director, Office of Federal Relations at National Governors Association; William T. “Bill” Robinson III, President-Elect, American Bar Association; William K. Weisenberg, Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs and Government Relations, Ohio State Bar Association and Chair, SCJI; and Robert N. Baldwin, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, NCSC.
The focus of JBiz is to address and advance the cause of adequate funding for our state courts. Towards that end, the NCSC acts as the staffing component of the Conference of Chief Justices (“CCJ”), recognizing that the courts must plan “to do more with less.” The NCSC, working to establish the value of courts in the administration of justice, has engaged in a “re-engineering” project implicating case administration, court governance, the functions of state courts, and principles for funding…
CLLB Information Security Newsletter. Volume 3 number 8 August 2010.
Volume 3 number 8 August 2010.
From the Desk of David Badertscher
Protecting Children Online.
No Crackdown but Questions in Europe About Data Protection and the Cloud
By Alex Williams / September 4, 2010 11:18 PM*
German authorities have recently expressed skepticism about cloud computing and the potential it has for breaking data protection laws.
According to the Information Law Group, there is no imminent danger of a European crackdown, but legal experts are advising international companies to address these potential concerns in their planning and
New York: How Fast (Or Slow) Is Your Broadband?
Take a speed test:
According to a recent survey by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 4 out of 5 Americans have no idea what the speed of their Internet connection is.
The Center for Technology in Government (CTG) at the University at Albany is partnering with the New York State Office of Cyber Security (OCS) to collect actual broadband speeds from New York State residents. OCS has received funding to do carry this out through a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Book Review:The Conservative Assault on the Constitution
TITLE: THE CONSERVATIVE ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTION
SUBTITLE:
AUTHOR: Erwin Chemerinsky PUBLICATION DATE: October 5, 2010
CRS Report: U.S. Mexican Security Cooperation – the Merida Iniative and Beyond
CRS Report No. R41349; 8/16/2010; Posted 9/7/2010 Author(s): Clare Ribando Seelke, Specialist in Latin American Affairs; Kristin M. Finklea, Analyst in Domestic Security Subject(s): Mexico; Criminal Justice; Drug Abuse
No. of Pages: 35
SUMMARY:
LEH Copyright, New Media Law, and E-Commerce Newsletter
Volume 14, No. 4. September 1, 2010 ISSN 1489-954X
Published and Distributed by the Office of Lesley Ellen Harris. 2010 is the 15TH year of publication of the LEH Newsletter. All back issues are archived at http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/202/300/copyright-a/
1. Studies, Legislation and Conventions
Digitizing the World’s Laws: Authentication and Preservation
BY: Claire M Germain, Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law Cornell University and Director, Dual Degree Programs, Paris & Berlin
Publishers Note:
Claire Germain is interested in all aspects of legal information, from rare books to digital libraries, and often writes on these topics, most recently “Digitizing the World’s Laws: Authentication and Preservation.” the topic of this posting. For several years she has been actively advocating for effective measures to bring about authentication and improved preservation of digital law locally, nationally, internationally, and globally.
New York is Moving Forward on E-Discovery and E-Filing
In his August 31, 2010 New York Law Journal article, Court Rule Altered to Buttress E-Discovery; I-Filing Advances, Joel Stashenko discusses the amended Uniform Rules of Trial Courts of the State of New York as an effort to insure that lawyers keep “up to speed” regarding their clients’ records at the early stages of discovery. The amended rules were published August 18 and went into effect immediately, having been approved beforehand by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and the presiding justices of the four appellate division departments.
Much of this activity has been influenced by a New York court system report, Electronic Discovery in the State of New York, published in February 2010. The key recommendations of that Report includes: establishing an e-discovery work group; improving the preliminary conference; more e-discovery programs in Education and Training; more court attorney referees serving as e-discovery specialists, establishing an institutional presence at the Sedona Conference; and working harder to improve the quality of E-Discovery practice.
On the second front mentioned in Mr. Stashenko’s article, electronic filing of litigant papers is said to be proceeding in New York at a deliberative pace. While more than10,000 lawyers registered for New York’s electronic filing system in 2009, compared to only 300 in 2002, there is , as Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau has observed, “there is a long way to go: before e-filing and E-Discovery are required in all New York Courts. After 11 years of experimentation with electronic filing, New York has accorded permanent status to the effort and is now beginning to institute mandatory e-filing in limited areas.