Get on board with e-briefs
With e-filing in the court of appeals right around the corner, there was a lot of talk about technology and e-briefs at the UT appellate CLE earlier this month. Some Texas Supreme Court justices even discussed their use of technology (Chief Justice Jefferson reads petitions for review on his Kindle), as well as their favorite blogs.
Our friend Don Cruse over at Supreme Court of Texas Blog gave a great presentation with Supreme Court Clerk Blake Hawthorne about the future of briefing and how to publish a simple e-brief. He links to the presentation here. For all those following the trends, technology has caught up with the practice of appellate law. Soon, e-filing will be mandatory (as it already is in the Fifth Circuit), and all records and briefs will be electronic. Appellate lawyers should investigate the benefits of providing the courts with more resources to decide appeals. And with the costs of e-briefs coming down, the expense argument has much less force today than a few years ago when e-briefs were cutting edge.
The e-train is coming. We better get on board.
