Law and Public Policy Articles relating to the law and public policy. http://addingunderstanding.com/taxonomy/term/27/atom/feed 2007-04-06T10:34:00-06:00 We interrupt this program http://addingunderstanding.com/2008/11/we-interrupt-program 2008-11-03T21:06:51-07:00 2008-11-03T21:06:51-07:00 joshb Truth be told there has been less program and more interruption happening here of late. I'd make a statement about that changing soon but the next couple of months are looking to be a little on the crazy side. In the meantime take a look at this video. Likely I'm not alone in musing that there are some folks who I wouldn't mind having them stay home on election day. The truth is, however, the system only works when we all vote. Sure the robo-callers and excessive punditry will be great to put behind us (and hey not everybody has a Nevada cell phone number mind you).

]]> Truth be told there has been less program and more interruption happening here of late. I'd make a statement about that changing soon but the next couple of months are looking to be a little on the crazy side. In the meantime take a look at this video. Likely I'm not alone in musing that there are some folks who I wouldn't mind having them stay home on election day. The truth is, however, the system only works when we all vote. Sure the robo-callers and excessive punditry will be great to put behind us (and hey not everybody has a Nevada cell phone number mind you).

]]> The Westlaw tax http://addingunderstanding.com/2007/08/westlaw-tax 2007-08-21T01:10:41-06:00 2007-08-21T06:00:24-06:00 joshb One of the benefits of working at a law school is getting access to WestLaw and Lexis databases. These Goliaths of the database world aim to own and index everything legal. They do this in a number of ways but one in particular has always galled me. Through various models they support publishing reporters and other forums for publishing decisions in state and federal cases. In turn they get to keep the information behind firewalls that keep non-paying customers out and make many important legal documents unavailable to lay persons and those with a casual interest in studying the law who are not members of the esteemed profession.

Nevada for example publishes advance decisions on it's website but only for 90-days and they are not documents of record. The site notes "this information is prepared as an informational service only and should not be relied upon as an official record of action. For official records, please refer to the printed version of the appropriate official publication which may be obtained from the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Nevada." Amazingly the site doesn't even link to the page for ordering Nevada Reports which is the official record cryptically mentioned on the advance decisions page.

]]> One of the benefits of working at a law school is getting access to WestLaw and Lexis databases. These Goliaths of the database world aim to own and index everything legal. They do this in a number of ways but one in particular has always galled me. Through various models they support publishing reporters and other forums for publishing decisions in state and federal cases. In turn they get to keep the information behind firewalls that keep non-paying customers out and make many important legal documents unavailable to lay persons and those with a casual interest in studying the law who are not members of the esteemed profession.

Nevada for example publishes advance decisions on it's website but only for 90-days and they are not documents of record. The site notes "this information is prepared as an informational service only and should not be relied upon as an official record of action. For official records, please refer to the printed version of the appropriate official publication which may be obtained from the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Nevada." Amazingly the site doesn't even link to the page for ordering Nevada Reports which is the official record cryptically mentioned on the advance decisions page.

In the end a document that summarizes the law of the land, produced by the tax-funded judicial system produces a document that, although available online for a period of time, is ultimately only available in the long term for those willing to pay for it in either book form or through one of the database vendors. Legal professionals have little choice but to subscribe and most do so. It is the private party who wants to do a little research in Ely or Panaca who is left out.

]]> My soap-opera addiction http://addingunderstanding.com/registerfly-vs-icann-document-php-programming.html 2007-08-02T06:00:00-06:00 2007-08-02T06:00:00-06:00 joshb The saying goes that admitting a problem is the first step to recovery. Well I have a problem. It is one of those quiet little habits that nobody talks about. Serpent-like in its craftiness it lurks in the corners. The typical things aren't a problem being a non-smoking drug-free type those vices don't tempt. No, this is the voyeuristic joy of watching soap opera-like lawsuits meander through the legal process.

]]> The saying goes that admitting a problem is the first step to recovery. Well I have a problem. It is one of those quiet little habits that nobody talks about. Serpent-like in its craftiness it lurks in the corners. The typical things aren't a problem being a non-smoking drug-free type those vices don't tempt. No, this is the voyeuristic joy of watching soap opera-like lawsuits meander through the legal process.

Take for example ICANN vs. RegisterFly. It has been a little while since I looked in on the case but there are so many good things there. My favorite in this odd case so far is the statement from RegisterFly's webmaster. The statement says in part that following the court's order would have caused the "web site navigation menu on all 4000+ pages to be inoperable and content within those pages to not display / align properly." (We won't even talk about the use of a slash in place of words.) Hmmm that's interesting that a site like RegisterFly has 4000+ pages. Doing a search in Google shows there being 789 pages on all registerfly.com in total. This count includes blank pages like this one. In reading these documents one is left to wonder where the disconnect is. RegisterFly's home page is 'index.php'. With that it really escapes comprehension how difficult it would be to add a check for the requested URL and insert the message on a single page. 3-5 lines of code and tough to figure out why it would be necessary to take 10 days to do so. Of course a cynic might think there was more stonewalling than technical necessity.

]]> Ignorance is not a defense http://addingunderstanding.com/customer-service-gaffes.html 2007-04-06T09:52:39-06:00 2007-04-06T10:34:00-06:00 joshb Throughout my decades of being a student of public education I have been taught that ignorance of the law is not a defense. It seems even some attorneys don't get it. Though I am not a legal scholar or expert in any way the logic of Russo & Hale's motion in a case against a former client is simply baffling. Perhaps the firm should change it's name to Bottom & Quince. Though it is hard to imagine even Shakespeare's most comical players playing this skit.

This drubbing of a customer makes me think of an experience we had a few days ago. We went to a nice, expensive restaurant for dinner. It was not as good as it had been about a year ago when we were last there but it was still good and fun. The trouble started for us when we ordered desert, the chocolate course. We each asked for coffee and placed the order. And we waited. And waited. And continued to wait. Finally a manager shows up, slings the chocolate on the table, drops off the fruit plates and says "is there anything else you need". We asked for the coffees we had ordered. It is then that the manager tells us that our server got a big table. At this point I'm thinking "here's a manager that doesn't get customer service".

]]> Throughout my decades of being a student of public education I have been taught that ignorance of the law is not a defense. It seems even some attorneys don't get it. Though I am not a legal scholar or expert in any way the logic of Russo & Hale's motion in a case against a former client is simply baffling. Perhaps the firm should change it's name to Bottom & Quince. Though it is hard to imagine even Shakespeare's most comical players playing this skit.

This drubbing of a customer makes me think of an experience we had a few days ago. We went to a nice, expensive restaurant for dinner. It was not as good as it had been about a year ago when we were last there but it was still good and fun. The trouble started for us when we ordered desert, the chocolate course. We each asked for coffee and placed the order. And we waited. And waited. And continued to wait. Finally a manager shows up, slings the chocolate on the table, drops off the fruit plates and says "is there anything else you need". We asked for the coffees we had ordered. It is then that the manager tells us that our server got a big table. At this point I'm thinking "here's a manager that doesn't get customer service".

A short time later the table next to us was seated. The couple sitting there was told that although they had been given a table they did not have a server. They asked to speak to a manager. When the manager arrived they politely explained that they waited an hour to be seated after being told that it would be a 20-minute wait and that once seated they learned they did not have a server. The manager unapologetically started explaining that they had a large table and so on. It was amazing as I sat wondering how this person ever navigated into the ranks of management.

At the time I wrote the manager's poor reaction off to the lack of ownership. How different the response would have been from an owner-manager. Russo & Hale are owner managers and are still making terrible decisions when it comes to their customers and more critically the future of their business.

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