(HT to Slaw) Law.com reports on the new wiki by the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, available at http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/wiki/. Judge Easterbrook, who led the project, gives the purpose of the project:

The goal is to concentrate on procedure (in both the court of appeals and the district courts) but not to cover substance. We aren’t interested in comments about the meaning of ERISA or the Internal Revenue Code and will take down any pages that go beyond the scope of practice and procedure (including jurisdiction).

So only practice and procedure are the goal of the wiki, which is an appropriate goal for a wiki by a court. Carolyn Elefant mentions in her Law.com post on how she sees the wiki being used:

What a terrific tool, both for lawyers who don’t know what they’re doing, as well as for lawyers who do. Experienced lawyers can use the wiki to share procedural tips and, thus, place their name in circulation as resident experts, which can generate clients. And lawyers who are first-timers can use the wiki as a resource to figure out how to file an appeal without committing malpractice or looking foolish. My only question is, how long until other circuit courts follow suit?

Undoubtedly this idea — lawyers sharing in a collaborative environment to improve practice — fuels the rationale behind the 7th Circuit putting up the site. I’m sure at least part of the goal is to reduce common errors that the court has to deal with on the part of new appellate lawyers, and thus reduce the court’s workload (or at least streamline it). I just wonder how much people are going to use it as a wiki, and not just as a graphical version of the Practitioner’s Handbook (pdf file).

The Practitioner’s Handbook, a guide produced by the 7th Circuit for attorneys handling appeals in the Circuit, appears to be the only content (or at least the main content) on the wiki. The Handbook, rather than the wiki, is the real tool that allows newbie appellate lawyers “to figure out how to file an appeal without committing malpractice or looking foolish”. The Handbook is dated from 2003, and so this might be a way to collaboratively note changes between official versions, or could, conceivably, supplant the Handbook in the future.

I think that the real problem is getting people to contribute. Lawyers are very busy people, and I’m not sure how many of the appellate lawyers in the 7th Circuit are going to pitch in to create some amazing resource. Think about the audience demographic for a minute: Lawyers in three states — Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin — who practice in federal court and who handle the appeals in their federal cases. You then have to slice out of this pool of 7th Circuit appellate lawyers those who have time, are familiar with a wiki (and editing one), and desire to contribute.

This isn’t to say that I believe that collaborative tools couldn’t help lawyers out in their practice before the 7th Circuit (and elsewhere). I’m just not sure that a wiki is the right way to do it, or more precisely, not simply a wiki version of the Practitioner’s Handbook. Perhaps paying someone to monitor and build up the community behind the wiki could be an additional step — an active and dedicated community is after all how wikis work. Perhaps some other social networking tools to help build the community in the first place, though probably not a Myspace for 7th Circuit Appellate lawyers. Rather than assuming that “If you build a wiki, they will come”, find out what your audience wants, and how they want to access it. Looking at the recent changes in the wiki, confirms that, at least as of now, the few edits that are present are extremely minor. [Link to recent changes].

It will, however, be one to watch. See the discussion on technorati.

Other coverage at Robert Ambrogi’s blog, and original story in the National Law Journal (subscription required).

This entry was posted Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 9:07 am and is filed under news, web. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.