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SOME NOTABLE LIBRARY NEWS


PREMIUM ROOMS

SOME MAIN ROOMS

LEGAL TOPIC AREAS

MISC BUSHWAH


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SOME NOTABLE LIBRARY NEWS
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There's been a lot that's happened from the last report until now, March, 1999. Unforunately, most of it involved us being so busy we haven't been able to update this file.

We promise to do so soon. Maybe.
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[12/30/96]

We wish all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's been more than six months since we've updated this file because absolutely nothing has happened!!
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Well actually, we've been constantly revising the Library, puttering here and tinkering there. We added a new Topic Area to the Reference Room with the full text of major historic court decisions going back to Marbury v. Madison and we're just about ready to unveil another one -- The International Law Topic Area.
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Our visitor numbers have increased dramatically despite doing no promotion in the last 6+ months. However, we somehow doubt the number in this excerpt from our usage stats file: "Important Announcement -- After exhaustive analysis and application of "previously unknown einsteinium algorithms", our allegedly expert technical staff has determined that the Library's total number of visitors from its May, 1995, debut through mid-December, 1996, exceeds 6,500,000,000."
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Despite the fact that legal sites, including some by the big guys, have been springing up like turnips, the Library continues to gather awards and cudos, further reinforcing our doubts regarding the existence of intelligent life... at least in this solar system.

Here's a SAMPLING OF RECENT REVIEWS:

The 'Lectric Law Library is the latest and greatest entry into the consumer legal market. Their Web site is slick, entertaining, and the market leader in attitude.... informative and entertaining. Who could ask for anything more from a Web site?... the Wired Magazine of the consumer legal market. It's a first-rate Web site that should be in the bookmark file of lawyers and non-lawyers alike. -- Eric Heels, in the ABA's Nov/Dec '96 "Law Practice Management"

NOTE: Strangely enough, about the least enthusiastic review we saw was from Wired Magazine's HotWired that called us "Quixotically designed." However, we'll pass on any "pot calling the kettle..." remarks since they said very nice things about us in their magazine. [M]ost [legal] sites are about as thrilling as municipal-court-library files. One exception is the entertainingly eclectic 'Lectric Law Library. -- MacUser Web Edition / Nov. 1996

The deserving recipient of an armful of best-of-the-Web awards, the L.L.L. is chock full of well organized legal resources, for professionals and lay folks alike, and is put together with some real flair -- and a terrific sense of humor. -- Excite Reviews

A gazillion content-rich pages...Not your father's law library. Ralf Rinkle has amassed everything you can't find anywhere else. A "10" -- LynxOfTheWeekList 9/13/96

The 'Lectric Law Library provides a different look at the legal web. The tone is casual, to say the least... an in-depth, thoughtful set of resources beneath the conversational approach. -- MicroSoft Network

One of Lycos/POINTreview "Top Ten Sites of the Week" of Nov. 16, 1996

Definitely the most bizzare of the bunch, but beneath all the humor and wit this site offers a vast and often valuable collection of legal resources and original content. -- MN Journal of Law & Politics, Oct. 1996

Check this one out. It's a must see. -- The Raven's Nest

Injected with wit and sarcasm throughout, the 'Lectric Law Library offers a resource for lawyers, students, and laymen that will help them without putting them to sleep... Well-organized, truly useful, and, dare we say it, fun. -- McKinley Reviews

And The Library of Congress included us as one of the few non-govt sites in its "Guide to Law Online" saying: This quirkily humorous but useful Web site is unique among those offering extensive links to legal information. More than any other "law site." it appears designed for a generation brought up on computer games. The abundance of sites listed, the sense of humor shown in the commentary, and the rare orientation toward lay users make it well worth visiting.
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[6/9/96]

We now have a search engine -- The 'Lectric Law Looker-Upper -- installed in various Library rooms and areas.
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The red-hot dispute concerning domain names between the Library and Interlaw Limited has been settled to all sides satisfaction. ================================================================

[5/16/96]

On 5/20 the Library has its first online birthday!!!
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Since the last update we've added literally 1000s of files in almost every part of the Library. The more important new items include: * Created the "'Lectric Legal Links" area with hot-links to the net's best legal indexes and search engines. * Created new Reference Room Topic areas for Environmental and Sex Law. * Greatly expanded the free software offerings in the Bookstore. * Greatly expanded the Legal Terms area. Its 3+ MB may make it larger than Black's Law Dictionary.
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We moved to a much more powerful server with a T3 pipeline to the net and lots more space for expanding the Library's offerings. And good thing too, since our usage has risen to 220,000+ hits a month with more than 1.2 gigabytes of traffic. And its still rising despite the almost total lack of any self-promotion [which will soon change].
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Because of the confusion created by our ever-expanding collection's size we've been developing a search engine for finding the Library's material. The "'Lectric Law Looker-Upper" should be on-line any day now.
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AWARDS and PLAUDITS PRINT

The Library was included in a number of books including "The World Wide Web Top 1000" published by New Riders - Macmillan Publishing and is the Featured Legal Site in "The Internet Yellow Pages." We've also been favorably written up in numerous hardcopy magazines including "Wired" and "Net". And the ABA's magazine "The Compleat Lawyer" spring's Editorial says: "And, now for relief. Let me make one contribution to your quality of life. Published by law schools or the government, many legal websites are really boring. Here's one which I can heartily recommend: The 'Lectric Law Library at http://www.lectlaw.com. Rated the most complete law library on the Web, its 2000+ eclectic, useful and admittedly bizarre collection of legal outlines, software, forms and consumer protection materials mixes idealism with humor and practical information. This throwback to the sixties made me value our profession. And it'll make you proud to be a lawyer." [Whatever the hell that means. We're not sure whether to be pleased or insulted.]

OnLine

In addition to the many awards and commendations previously received, we were awarded April 1996 Lunar Law Links Award, a monthly recognition of outstanding legal sites on the World Wide Web.

We've been named a featured site by all sorts of 'Netizens' including Counsel-Connect, LJXtra, and the ABA. And on Feb. 5th, CNN's Wonders of the Web discovered us and said:

"This is quite simply the best legal resource that we, as lay people, have come across on the Web. Everything is written in easily digestible prose (no legalese here), the depth is staggering and it's all free. The stacks in the virtual reference room -- the Lawcopedia -- are jammed with treatises on everything from bankruptcy and banking to employment issues and securities law. Budding capitalists can stop in at the own lounge and check out dozens of articles (tips to help small businesses avoid lawsuits, help with understanding capital formation, and details on laws covering incorporation and regulatory issues). Consumers and others have their own lounge, with data on tax laws and contract issues and investor rights and landlords' obligations. There's even a news area to keep abreast of the latest rulings and regulatory changes. This one definitely deserves a bookmark."
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[12/11/95]

We've been busy lately adding new topic areas covering Medicine and the Law; Historical Legal Documents and Environmental Law the last month. We've also just finished greatly expanded many of the Lawcopedia's Legal Terms. And we have literally hundreds of assorted files and other features about ready to load.
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We're in a transitional period regarding our domain name (see the section off the News Room for more). Our name has been changed to "http://www.lectlaw.com" - that's LECTLAW.COM (but lower case). Both it and "inter-law.com will be functioning for awhile with the complete changeover planned for Feb. 1.
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As shown by our usage stats file, Visitors to the Library are still increasing at a very rapid rate... and it's still by word-of-mouth... we've still not started our publicity campaign.
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Here's another award for the Library... When we looked we were one of only 5 Net Sites (not just law sites) to receive the Creative Award.

Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 04:36:18 -0600 From: spinnwebe@thoughtport.com (Greg Galcik) Subject: SpinnWebe Creative Award To: staff@inter-law.com

Hello. This is a form letter. Sorry. I generally detest the things, but I have to send out about 30 of these, and I don't have the time to send them individually.

Your page, , have been awarded a SpinnWebe Feature Honors Award in the Creative category. You can see the Awards page at . . .

Greg Galcik spinnwebe@thoughtport.com http://www.thoughtport.com/spinnwebe/
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Besides being given the top 5% award described below, Point (http://www.pointcom.com/) has given the Library a great review:

The 'Lectric Law Library 11/02/95 Content: 45 / 50 Presentation: 40 / 50 Experience: 40 / 50

Perhaps the most complete law library on the Web, The 'Lectric Law Library includes statutes, case law, legal forms, and the Library's own 'lectric Lawcopedia. This is no musty, dust-filled citadel: at the homepage you're greeted by Ralf, the head librarian, who can lead you to either a "tour" of the library, or directly into the heart of the site, The Rotunda ("Its dome, as you can see, is covered with frescos by Michaelangelo and my brother Randy"). And it's not just for the pros: the "Law for Business Lounge" and "Laypeople's Law Lounge" cover everyday legal matters like taxes, traffic tickets, and leases. Don't let the topic of the site fool you into thinking it's boring; don't let its sense of humor fool you into thinking it doesn't mean business. A fine resource. Review category: * Law (c) 1995 Point Communications Corp.
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And Point's main competitor Mckinley's "MAGELLAN" (http://www.mckinley.com/ - we think???) reviewed two of our rooms in November - The Legal Professional's Lounge and the Periodical Room and gave them their highest 4 star rating Summary as well as specific ratings of - Coverage: 3; Organization: 4; Up-to-date: 4; Ease of Access: 4 - which, as far as we can tell, appears to be the highest rating of any of the legal sites they have examined.
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[9/15/95]

On August 21, 1995 we received this:

From: InfoQuest Business Services To: staff@inter-law.com Subject: Business Law Lounge featured 'Lectric Law Library's(TM) "Business Law Lounge" has been featured this week by "A Free Launch", a collection of bookmark-quality links presented weekly by InfoQuest Business Services.

Cordially, Kathy Casper InfoQuest Business Services http://www.netline.net/~kathy/index.html
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On Aug 13, 1995 this came in the e-mail:

To: staff@inter-law.com From: todd@pointcom.com (Chris Kitze) Subject: The Lectric Law Library is Rated in the Top 5%

Congratulations!

Your home page has been rated among the top 5% of all sites on the Internet by Point Survey.

Point is a free service which rates and reviews only the best sites on the World Wide Web. We provide surfers with a standard of excellence: a catalog of the most lively, useful, and fun sites on the Net. If you haven't already seen Point, you can visit us at: http://www.pointcom.com/ .....
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Point has since expanded their reviews to include 95+ legal sites -- and The Library is THE HIGHEST RATED OF ANY OF THE COMMERCIAL LEGAL SITES!!! (We were told that our rating places us in the TOP 1% OF ALL NET SITES.)

WOW!! What more can we say?
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On May 29th Chicago-Kent Law School's internet site - "Kentlaw" - one of the most respected legal resources on the planet, named the Library it's "LAW LINK OF THE WEEK"!!

That this happened only 8 days after opening makes us feel especially proud. We sincerely thank kentlaw (http://www.kentlaw.edu).

Note: We're so good -- or Kent's people are so spaced out -- (we're not sure which) that we remained their Top Pick for all of June and at least part of July. (Since we haven't looked recently we may still be their Pick... In which case someone should check to see if they're still alive.)
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The Library has since received lots of additional publicity -- some of it even good!

This includes being chosen as "NetWatchers" best internet site of the week. (Marshall Dyer's great - considering its done by an Okie lawyer - legal e-zine at http://www.ionet.net/~mdyer/netwatch.shtml).

Also, a snowbound attorney wrote that the St. Paul, Minn. newspaper mentioned us in yesterday's (Sun. 8/6) paper. He didn't detail what was said but did advise us against opening any packages with an Minn. postmark. We assume that the reason for this is his concern that we don't get a swelled head from all the neat gifts.

Finally, since everyone knows about the NY Time's front-page story we won't rehash it here. ;-)
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On 9/26, The Library FINALLY announced it's advertising products, policy, rates, etc. In conjunction with this we've opened a virtual website devoted to legal industry Internet marketing and promotion.
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9/11 We reopened the Library's Bookstore that had been shut down for about a month. Not only is it totally remodeled, but also greatly expanded... and offers on-line disk ordering.
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September 1 saw the creation and announcement of an area in the Newsroom dealing with Internet domain name and trademark issues. The idea for this came from a dispute we are involved in over OUR domain name. The page was an immediate hit with hundreds of visitors and lots of comments and advice generated.
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During August we added lots of content files and a number of new "Rooms", started our project to greatly expand the definitions in the Reference Room, and graphically updated the entire Library.