The Legal System and Technology in the XXI Century

Technology has found its way into almost every facet of human lifestyles. For your edification, this discussion continues, as well as an addition to previous study formats. By offering this informative passage, the legal system is just one more profession that has been conquered by technology.

We are aware of the court reporters and PCs that record and track our legal system, but what about the CGA System? Submission of computer generated animation may be admitted in our American court system. The admissible evidence in criminal trial(s) has been registered as a previous case ruled by the Supreme Court. As reported by Asher Hawkins of Legal Intelligencer, differing arguments from six Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices concluded that a Lackawana common pleas judge correctly admitted to the use of CGA during a 2002 first-degree murder case. CGA he has been portrayed on various television shows. like CSI Investigations and Crime 360.

Judge Sandra Schultz Newman wrote: “Society has become increasingly dependent on computers in business and in our personal lives…” She went on to say: “With each technological advance, the practice of law becomes more sophisticated. and commensurate with the need to get rid of any technophobia and be more willing to embrace advances that have the ability to improve the efficiency of the legal system.”

Prosecution teams, including forensic pathologists and crime scene reconstructionists, presented a murder case to the jury; the prosecutor’s version… the defendant did not possess and/or did not have access to this tool. An argument against this procedure in court is that a defendant, a poor person, can order an equivalent production. In other words, could the defense match the costs associated with bringing the prosecution to court? Another judge suggested that it would be prudent to exclude CGA evidence if an indigent or poor defendant could not afford “equivalent production” costs. The basic cost could be over $20,000.00. Another legal professional commented on whether the CGA costs were worth it. The judges also took note of the fact that CGAs are becoming less expensive to produce and could be a vital tool in expediting court cases. In either case, pretrial motions that include CGA evidence must be treated with respect. Jury instructions and indigent defendants (starved of food, clothing, and other necessities of life due to poverty; needy; poor; impoverished, destitute) are required with the permission of the court for the presentation of such evidence.

The position of the judges was to ensure that the CGI was fair and accurate while allowing defenders the opportunity to challenge its rationale. The magistrates have also pointed this out, to make it clear to the jury that it was not intended to be a re-enactment or simulation, but simply an expression of opinions formed by expert witnesses. Another judge expressed his position… “I think it’s a valuable tool, but a tool that should be used sparingly. I don’t think it’s necessary in every case.” Newman also wrote: “The difference is one of mode, the law does not, and should not prohibit, the competent professional use of new technology in the courtroom. After all, this is the 21st century.”

Each state has its own court system. There is also a federal court system. Decisions made during adjudication by federal administration agencies may be appealed in federal court. Similarly, decisions made by state administrative agencies may be appealed to a state court. The definition of adjudication (adjudicate) is to issue a judicial decision. In the administrative process, the procedure in which an administrative law judge hears and decides on issues that arise when an administrative agency accuses a person or firm of violating the law or regulations applied by the agency. An administrative agency is an agency of the state or federal government established to perform a specific function. Administrative agencies are authorized by legislative acts to make and enforce the rules for administering and enforcing the acts.

Typically, a state court system will include several tiers or tiers of courts: (a) limited jurisdiction trial courts, (b) general jurisdiction trial courts, (c) appellate courts, and (d) the state supreme court (often referred to as the State Supreme Court). Anyone who is a party to a lawsuit has the opportunity and/or the right to argue their case in a trial court and then, if they lose, in at least one level of appellate court. In addition, if the State Supreme Court’s decision involves a federal law or federal constitutional issue, that decision may be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

Have you ever wondered, with all the jurisprudence (the science or philosophy of law, a body or system of laws, a law department, Civil Law, court decisions, especially review courts) activities that flood the earth, how could the legal system work without technology?

Monica Bay of Law Technology News reported that small firm attorneys, especially independent practitioners, have been resistant to adopting case/practice management software (CMS), although there is no question that it can help firms to provide faster, better and cheaper services to its customers. Several observers suggest that the initial threshold of establishing a management system is intimidating for companies. A software consultant, Tom O’Connor, said, “Everyone loves technology but hates installing it.”

Project management hasn’t been a hot topic in many schools, according to an independent Minneapolis IT consultant. Successful project management depends on a large network of personnel. An effective Electronic Data Discovery (EDD) Project Network includes: customers, partners, IT legal staff, associates, paralegals, internal counsel, service providers, and technical experts. Without a doubt, the use of project management (PM) to mitigate risk while delivering consistent and quality results that represent significant benchmarks in the maturation process of the EDD environment.

Used in many corporations to increase productivity, quality control programs like Sigma Six have been generating interest. Understanding why and where problems occur has a huge impact on error reduction. The application of these principles and practices in electronic data discovery processes improves the results of a lawyer with higher quality and lower costs. The reasons for the growing interest in project management are the recognition that success depends on effective management.

Mitigating risk and reducing costs by applying “Electronic Discovery Techniques” offered a host of considerations, for example, matching schedules, securing outside IT experts, proposing and following “E-Discovery” protocol, hiring a special teacher to monitor compliance and resolve disputes, use of checklists containing critical steps and reminders for each step in and of a project, service providers working, working with lawyers to find answers to the right questions, Since supplier management requires special attention to service level agreements (SLA’s).

In the meantime, discover these definitions/legalese terms that can help you in your studies of management, business, everyday life, and technology:

surrogacy – Any claim that a creditor has against a debtor now becomes the security claim. These include creditor rights in bankruptcy, creditor collateral possession rights, and creditor secured judgment rights: collateral is now in the creditor’s shoes against the debtor.

Compensation – The right to seek reimbursement/guaranteed payment to a director for legal costs, fees and/or lawsuits involved in defending corporations – (clients) related lawsuits. It is enough to put the right to compensation for services as directors (representatives / lawyers).

Habeas corpus – held against their will – against their constitutional right(s), an order requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court, esp. for investigation of a restriction of a person’s liberty, used as protection against unlawful imprisonment, one of a variety of court orders that can be issued to bring a party before a court or judge, the function of which is to release the party of the illegal restraint.

write – a legal order, a court document.

Wrong – personal injury, a civil damage that does not arise from a breach of contract… a breach of a legal duty that immediately causes harm or injury to another.

Posterity – the descendants of a parent up to the most distant generation; decendents; all future generations; successive or future generations collectively; The judgment of this age must be left to posterity; all descendants of a single person.

hipa – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was enacted to ensure that personal information stored, accessed, or processed complies with a set of guidelines or “security rules.” These rules describe the security measures that must be implemented to adequately secure all electronic protected health information (EPHI). LogRhythm directly meets some HIPAA requirements, reduces the cost of compliance with others, and delivers out-of-the-box HIPAA reporting packages.

stockings – require public companies to create, monitor and manage controls over many aspects of their financial reporting. Some companies have discovered that such transparency is not easy. The rules require not only new processes, but also new tools that can determine whether reporting systems and standards are up to snuff. In general, SOX applications can be classified into three main market segments, according to Forrester Research. Those in the enterprise application space include Oracle and SAP; IBM and Stellent fall under the heading of enterprise content management (ECM); and OpenPages and Paisley Consulting are considered specialists and compete with Certus, HandySoft and other proprietary providers.

Where is that technology has not arrived? Are backyards really behind in technology? Are they out of the loop like many “non-techies” or poor people are? The “Great Technical Divide”… imagine!

After all, this is the 21st century.

Until next time…

by

Gregory V. Boulware

3.16.10