It's hard, with the Internet growing as fast as it does and the practice of law being as time-consuming as it is, to keep abreast of what's happening on-line that's law-related. After all, most of us really don't have time to browse through cyberspace daily in search of new resources, much less evaluate them for relevance and usefulness.

Periodically checking on your favourite web index is useful, but if there are many new entries it's hard to examine them all. So how's a hard-working lawyer to stay current?

One of the ways that I keep up with what's new on the Internet is by subscribing to a variety of free on-line newsletters and mailing-lists.

For law-related resources, one of the best is LAIR, the Legal Automation and Internet Review [no longer available - LSE]. It's published weekly by the Center for Computer-based Legal Research, based in Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas.

LAIR serves much like a clipping service, providing briefs on developments within the world of Internet-accessible legal information resources. The newsletter is concise and well-written, highlighting the latest legal websites, gophers and searchable databases. Don't be put off by the source; for a U.S. publication, there is a surprisingly generous portion of Canadian content.

Since LAIR is published as a mailing-list, you require no special software other than your e-mail package. Since it comes in electronic format, it's easy to save the addresses of interesting sites and recall them for exploration at a more convenient time.

To subscribe to LAIR, send an e-mail message (leaving the Subject: line blank) to majordomo@tarlton.law.utexas.edu>majordomo@tarlton.law.utexas.edu . In the body of the message enter only the words subscribe lair, and no other text. You should receive a message confirming your subscription within 24 hours.

Issues of LAIR are also formatted for the World Wide Web, complete with a WAIS search capability, at http://www.law.utexas.edu/lair/lair.html.

Keeping up on law-related information is only half the battle. For other information I rely on newsgroups, especially the clari. hierarchy which--by virtue of its many specific subgroups--acts as my personal clipping service for world news on certain topics.

Microsoft, Apple and many other players in the computer industry maintain mailing-lists that circulate press releases and new product announcements.

Finally, there's the more traditional printed press: magazines like Internet World present a wide review of new sites in a very short read.

The meta-issue is more difficult. You are no doubt asking yourself, "How much longer will I have to spend time learning about what's new? How much `learning' time can I justify intruding on my daily billable hours? And even if I catch up, how will I stay caught up?"

The truth is, of course, that we will all be learning for the rest of our lives. The world is not going to stop for a few days to let us catch up to the present.

Welcome to the Information Age. To survive, you need to be able to handle information. You don't need to memorize it, you only have to know what is out there, and how to get it when you need it. Moreover, as professionals, you are paid to know how to use the information once you have it.

In an information-based world, doing our jobs may require that we spend some part of each day learning. When you think about it, it's not a bad thing.

In case you haven't found them yet, the full Consolidated Statutes of Canada, including the Criminal Code, are available on the Internet.

They are entirely in hypertext format, with link and search capabilities provided through the use of FolioViewsreg.. To exploit it best, you really need a forms-capable browser, like Netscape®. or Mosaic®.

The English language Table of Contents is found at http://canada.justice.gc.ca/loireg/ index_en.html, while the French version is at http://canada.justice.gc.ca/ loireg/index_fr.html.

I must commend the federal government web-literati for the initiative they have taken in this undertaking. I hope their provincial counterparts are watching.

© 1996 Lewis S. Eisen

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