How To Use the Internet for Legal
Research
by Josh Blackman
Reviewed by Paul
Ruiz, J.D.
How to Use the Internet For Legal
Research (Find/SVP, publisher) is a huge improvement over Josh Blackman’s first
effort in this arena, The Legal Researcher’s Internet Directory. Published in
1993, the author's former book gave bare-bones descriptions of how to access
information on the Internet, devoting the bulk of the book devoted to page upon page of
listings of Internet addresses, or URLs. This left newcomers to the Internet about as lost
after reading the book as they were before.
As a newcomer to the Internet myself, how does someone like
me distinguish a URL from a gopher from a hypertext transfer protocol? Blackman’s new
book makes up for the deficiencies of his earlier effort by devoting the first 92 pages to
two introductory sections that are geared toward new and relatively new users of the Net
(which will be most of us in the coming years). Indeed, the addition of the introductory
sections perhaps results from the recognition that the use of the Internet has become ever
more ubiquitous, thereby creating the need to explain basic terms, concepts and methods to
a growing body of new Internet users.
While the new book still contains an extensive catalog of URLs, it is more user-friendly,
beginning with the basics, such as explaining what is needed to access the Internet (a
computer, modem and telephone line). The author also uses devices like gray-shaded
footnotes to explain and/or highlight some of the many need-to-know concepts that have
become more and more commonplace in today’s Internet-compatible lexicon, such as
"home page"and "HMTL." Blackman also discusses the relative advantages
and disadvantages of traditional online research resources, such as LEXIS-NEXIS and
Westlaw, over using the Internet, and vice-versa. On LEXIS, for example, one pays a hefty
price for the convenience and breadth of a service that has been building its libraries
since 1975. Meanwhile, the same information can be accessed over the Internet for free
(with, perhaps, nominal telephone charges), but only if one knows where to look, which
could take valuable time. In addition, the Internet is not only a research tool but also a
communications tool, which includes e-mail, mailing lists, newsgroups, the World Wide Web,
and chat rooms. This is perhaps the Internet’s biggest advantage over LEXIS and
Westlaw.
But perhaps Blackman’s greatest contribution in his new effort is his ability to see
all the possibilities inherent in the new on-line world, particularly e-mail. According to
Blackman, e-mail has enormous advantages over faxes and telephone calls, particularly for
busy lawyers. In addition, e-mail gives lawyers the ability to bid for projects with firms
that are e-mail-linked, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of e-mail as a lawyer
marketing tool. "[W]hen you show people 2000 contacts a week," says one online
attorney, ". . . almost all of which are new contacts, you have people convinced that
the exposure in and of itself is of utility." With e-mail being so quick and simple
to use, some predict that it will replace faxes by the year 2000. Who wants to compose,
print, and then tie up a fax line to a colleague just to say "Hi"? Yet the
convenience of e-mail, which enables the receiver to retrieve messages when he or she so
desires, permits exactly this kind of informal communication, enabling people to keep in
touch with many others without being disruptive. In this fashion, e-mail allows for
opportunities to build networks that never existed before, especially for those who are
not especially comfortable with face to face schmoozing.
And of course, "How to Use the Internet For Legal Research" has an extensive
local, national and international directory of Internet sites that can help both new and
experienced Internet researches begin their quests for information.
But Blackman’s bottom line is that lawyers need not fear the brave new world of the
Internet. "Practitioners who are not online are out of touch and may soon be out of
business," Blackman warns. However, "The Internet is not a threat to lawyers,
but rather a watershed opportunity. Rather than limiting your personal network to work
colleagues and others you know through direct contact, the Net provides for contact with a
universe of people." Sage advice on a new medium.
Price: $39.95
Reviewed by Paul Ruiz
