THE Creative Commons movement has come to the UK (http://creativecommons.org). This is a fascinating initiative, born in the US and dedicated to a more flexible approach to copyright in creative works, especially those that are made available on the web. Replacing the “all rights reserved” of traditional copyright with “some rights reserved”, Creative Commons helps people to put their creative works into the public domain or keep their copyright while licensing them as free for particular uses. Creative Commons is working with a team in Oxford (http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk) in bringing their licences to the UK. Drafts are available for comment at http://creativecommons.org/projects/international/uk.

Further insight can be gleaned from the splendid new book, Free Culture, by Lawrence Lessig, chairman of Creative Commons (www.lessig.org). A copy can be purchased as normal or a pdf version can be downloaded (naturally, under a Creative Commons licence) from www.free-culture.cc/get-it.

THE Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law (NRCCL) is celebrating its 34th birthday (www.jus.uio.no/iri/english). The finest of its kind in the world, NRCCL is an exemplary inter-disciplinary facility housing an international community of students and the most extensive computers and law library on Earth. It has always pursued two lines of research - into the legal issues that arise from IT and into the use of computers as tools for lawyers. Significantly, while NRCCL’S original focus was on the latter, its work is now dominated by the former. This shift in emphasis has been mirrored in computers and law communities across the world. Indeed, serious academic research into computers for lawyers is relatively rare. While law firms spend 5 to 10 per cent of their annual fee income on IT, worryingly, few scholars are conducting systematic investigation into the effects and implications.

LORD JUSTICE BROOKE is soon to stand down as the judge in charge of modernisation. His energy and commitment will be greatly missed, both by judges and civil servants. He has forged remarkably good relations between the judiciary and the Court Service and has stimulated considerable enthusiasm for IT across the judicial community. His term in office has seen some notable achievements: ongoing introduction of a robust IT infrastructure across the court system, rapid take-up of technology by judges, the use of advanced systems in public inquiries and large-scale investment in IT for criminal justice. However, civil justice has not fared well. Most of Lord Woolf’s IT recommendations in his Access to Justice Inquiry (1996) remain unimplemented, so that court-based case management systems and e-filing will not be in place for some years, in contrast with many other countries. The problem is funding. Civil justice does not compete well with health, education or its criminal cousin when it pleads its case for public funds, despite valiant bids by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, strongly supported by Lord Justice Brooke. The best hope for the future lies in devising new funding models and in the legal profession collaborating in the development of shared, internet-based electronic case files. Lord Justice Neuberger, the new judge responsible for modernisation, has a challenging job ahead.

The author consults and lectures internationally on technology and the law and is IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice and Gresham Professor of Law. e-mail: richard@susskind.com

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