Comments on: The editors of the Texas Rules of Form want to hear from you http://www.scotxblog.com/practice-notes/greenbook-input-sough/ Legal Issues Before the Texas Supreme Court Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:20:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Don Cruse http://www.scotxblog.com/practice-notes/greenbook-input-sough/comment-page-1/#comment-1675 Don Cruse Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:59:28 +0000 http://www.scotxblog.com/?p=1071#comment-1675 <p>Kendall,</p> <p>You're right, and the real barrier would be a business one, not a technical one. West and Lexis include parallel citations for many courts. Adding them for unpublished Texas cases should be easy.</p> <p>Their paying customers would benefit, too. It would be easier for a Westlaw subscriber to look up cases cited by an opposing counsel who otherwise would be using the proprietary LEXIS cite. And it would be easier for courts to look up both sides' unpublished (but still precedential) cases.</p> <p>Jeff,</p> <p>You raise a really interesting point about electronic briefs. There are two halves: (1) how do we write cites for human readers? and (2) how do those cites work with electronic devices? I had been thinking about the first without considering the potential of the second.</p> <p>I'd like to think about that some more.</p> Kendall,

You’re right, and the real barrier would be a business one, not a technical one. West and Lexis include parallel citations for many courts. Adding them for unpublished Texas cases should be easy.

Their paying customers would benefit, too. It would be easier for a Westlaw subscriber to look up cases cited by an opposing counsel who otherwise would be using the proprietary LEXIS cite. And it would be easier for courts to look up both sides’ unpublished (but still precedential) cases.

Jeff,

You raise a really interesting point about electronic briefs. There are two halves: (1) how do we write cites for human readers? and (2) how do those cites work with electronic devices? I had been thinking about the first without considering the potential of the second.

I’d like to think about that some more.

]]> By: Kendall Gray http://www.scotxblog.com/practice-notes/greenbook-input-sough/comment-page-1/#comment-1666 Kendall Gray Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:31:52 +0000 http://www.scotxblog.com/?p=1071#comment-1666 <p>Ah, just revel in the appellate geekiness. I agree with the prior comment that it would be nice to have a uniform convention for citing unpublished cases that refers to the court's own slip opinion and potentially links to the slip opinion on the court's own cite. However, many (possibly most) of us research through a commercial vendor, Westlaw or Lexis would have to carry pagination information for the courts' slip opinions to make this workable.</p> Ah, just revel in the appellate geekiness. I agree with the prior comment that it would be nice to have a uniform convention for citing unpublished cases that refers to the court’s own slip opinion and potentially links to the slip opinion on the court’s own cite. However, many (possibly most) of us research through a commercial vendor, Westlaw or Lexis would have to carry pagination information for the courts’ slip opinions to make this workable.

]]> By: Jeff N. http://www.scotxblog.com/practice-notes/greenbook-input-sough/comment-page-1/#comment-1655 Jeff N. Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:39:10 +0000 http://www.scotxblog.com/?p=1071#comment-1655 <p>Just thinking about where we're heading. It seems inevitable that electronic briefing will dominate over paper briefs in the near future, in which case hyperlinking to the official online opinion would be the most elegant way to cite most opinions. In that event, is it possible the Green Book and Blue Book would lose most of their value?</p> <p>I would prefer that didn't happen. Having an authoritative citation manual makes brief-writing easier, even if the rules are often arbitrary and (as they historically have done) have furthered West's monopoly over the citation of case law.</p> <p>The expense of Westlaw is difficult to justify to many clients these days. At the rates charged private firms, it and Lexis are unreasonably and unnecessarily expensive. </p> <p>I favor a citation form that is based on the courts' official websites. If the Green Book were to assume a leadership role in this direction, it would seem that more courts would be encouraged to make their cases more easily searchable and accessible online. And the Green Book will remain relevant.</p> Just thinking about where we’re heading. It seems inevitable that electronic briefing will dominate over paper briefs in the near future, in which case hyperlinking to the official online opinion would be the most elegant way to cite most opinions. In that event, is it possible the Green Book and Blue Book would lose most of their value?

I would prefer that didn’t happen. Having an authoritative citation manual makes brief-writing easier, even if the rules are often arbitrary and (as they historically have done) have furthered West’s monopoly over the citation of case law.

The expense of Westlaw is difficult to justify to many clients these days. At the rates charged private firms, it and Lexis are unreasonably and unnecessarily expensive.

I favor a citation form that is based on the courts’ official websites. If the Green Book were to assume a leadership role in this direction, it would seem that more courts would be encouraged to make their cases more easily searchable and accessible online. And the Green Book will remain relevant.

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