What impact has modern technology such as computers, the Internet, email and online databases had on the paralegal profession? In your opinion, have these technological advances been positive or negative? What tasks do paralegals perform using computers? What are the advantages of computer assisted legal research (CALR) over traditional methods (going to a law library to locate cases and statutes in books and other printed materials, going to the courthouse to file pleadings in person rather than filing them electronically, etc.)?
What impact has technology had on legal research?
Huge leap in efficiency.
Research that used to take hours or days to do using books and indexes can now be done in minutes from any computer terminal. And with rapid updating, you can have new cases that came out days or weeks ago, rather than waiting months for pocket-parts.
Electronic filing saves time and gas. And electronic copies allow for broader distribution and more permanent records without wasting paper.
Those are just a few of the many benefits. The only downside is that, like all forms of automation, it cuts down on human interaction. Rather than hanging out in the law library and at least seeing other people, we now sit behind computer screens.
But, for the benefits gained, our lack of social interaction in other contexts is no excuse.
Reply:Its a gigantic change
Paralegals and secretary basically use prior work and edit it, rather than retype documents. Similarlly, the documents and forms are stores on computers and contain even old files that are gone.
Research it totally different. The only was to do research prirot ot he data babes was to use law books where student had been paid to index cases and interpret them. It was very time consuming and very wrong. Now, using logic in your word search you can seach every court opinion ever made. The prime sellers of this info is Lexis and West Law/
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