Mary is right. The blogosphere is a good place to get questions answered, and I'm hoping it's a good place to collect stories. I am in the research phase of an article about authentication of e-government documents in the courts. For the article, I am looking for anecdotes, at the trial court level, where an attorney has offered into evidence some documentary evidence of the law – a case, statute, regulation, agency publication, et cetera - from an on-line source, and had the court (or opposing counsel) refuse to accept the document unless an “authentic” or “official” version was proffered. If you have any examples of this occurring, I would really appreciate hearing about it. The most common "story" I have heard about is the trial court judges who "don't take their law from a computer" and want a copy of an official case report. Instances of this would be welcome, as well as any other examples. Please contact me by e-mail.
If you would be willing to post my request to a litigation list-serve, for a state bar association, the American Bar Association, or the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, please let me know. I am trying to reach as many people in the trenches as I can.
Thanks in advance – I know there are interesting stories out there!
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