Thomson Reuters sponsorship is fitting because the rule of law, articulated so effectively in the U.S. Constitution, is at the heart of the work we do here every day.

“As part of our daily work, we get to see that these documents – the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights – are not only historically important, but as alive today as they were at the time of these early printings,” said Mike Suchsland, president of the Legal business of Thomson Reuters at the unveiling reception for the exhibit. “According to Westlaw, in the first three months of this year, there were more than 600 decisions issued in federal courts involving the First Amendment alone,” said Suchsland.  

To learn more about this exhibit, visit “We the People:  The First Official Printing of the U.S. Constitution.” Or better yet, if you’re in the neighborhood you can stop by the Minnesota History Center and see it in person.

This donation is part of a $1.2 million partnership between Thomson Reuters and Books For Africa’s Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative, which was established last fall, and will include shipment of up to 15 law libraries to Africa over the next several years.

On Monday, Thomson Reuters was joined by legal, political and judicial dignitaries including former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale in hosting the first Advisory Board meeting of the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative.

The Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative is part of Books For Africa, the world’s largest shipper of donated books to the African continent. At the event, Thomson Reuters formalized its commitment to the organization to provide $1.2 million in support.

During the program, Peter Warwick, president and CEO of Thomson Reuters, Legal; Vice President Mondale, co-chair of the Advisory Board; and chief federal judge Michael Davis spoke of the importance of furthering the rule around the world, and advancing the work of Thomson Reuters and Books For Africa.

Although he wasn’t able to attend the event in person, former Secretary General of the United Nations and co-chair of the Advisory Board, Kofi Annan, provided an audio message to be shared with attendees:

The room was filled with many supporters of the organization, legal professionals and even recipients of the texts in Africa.

Watch video clips of the presenters here:

Peter Warwick video

Chief Judge Michael Davis video

Vice President Walter Mondale video

Check out this video highlighting the Thomson Reuters commitment to furthering the rule of law around the world, which includes one of our employees who remembers getting books from Books for Africa as a child:

The agreement means that the Minnesota-based organizations will provide up to 15 law libraries at law schools and governing institutions in Africa over the next several years. And, as part of that, those new libraries will receive teaching and international law texts.

In addition, Thomson Reuters plans to donate funds to offset the shipping costs of the legal texts and will continue to provide advertising, logistical and printing support to Books For Africa and the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative.

These contributions are intended to support the establishment of solid governing institutions and the Rule of Law in Africa’s emerging democracies.

The Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative is co-chaired by former United States Vice President Walter Mondale and former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In a news release today, Mondale said, “The Rule of Law – including the right to vote in free and fair elections, or the right to establish a business without the threat of militia rule or extortion – is something that we often take for granted. But it’s our faith in the Rule of Law that allows us to build strong businesses, establish smart schools and provide quality health care to people across Minnesota and the United States. This partnership will help Africa’s emerging democracies strengthen their governments by giving the next generation of lawyers, civil servants and government leaders the tools necessary to create and sustain the stable democracies we take for granted.”

In more than three years of collaboration, Thomson Reuters has contributed more than 3,500 legal texts and 50,000 general interest books to legal and public schools across 12 African nations.

Visit this site for more information about Books For Africa’s Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative and its agreement with Thomson Reuters.

In a column posted in the October edition of The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Peter Warwick, President & CEO of Thomson Reuters, Legal, talks about several initiatives we’re involved in that relate to the rule of law, including TrustLaw from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, that we’ve referenced before here on Legal Current.

Warwick writes:

Access to the rule of law is the bedrock on which the liberty of an individual rests, on which environmental, health, economic and political rights are secured, and on which the legal system depends. Those fighting for free and fair elections, for security from oppressive regimes, for water rights and women’s rights, and for transparency and good governance, all need legal support. They’re advancing what’s essential in the practice of law: helping people and organizations gain the representation and access to justice they deserve.

Again, you can read Warwick’s column, “New Tools, Stronger Partnerships For Supporting The Rule Of Law Worldwide,” in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.

Editor’s note: The video of this event that was once available in this post has been removed as of May 2010, per contract agreement.

Thomson Reuters, Legal CEO Peter Warwick and former Director General of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei sat at a roundtable onstage in an auditorium at LegalTech New York and talked about the world, its people, technologies that threaten civil society and democracy, and the ones that may offer it hope.

During his opening remarks, Warwick discussed why a global view is more important than ever before: “Operating as a global concern has been rich in opportunities. For most US and UK firms operating internationally, growth over the past decade has been much stronger outside their home countries, whether it has been supporting the global investments of Sovereign Wealth Funds; building China practices; or supporting the global M&A, tax and compliance needs of multi-national corporations. In emerging countries we also see a growing number of law firms and legal services suppliers who define their playing field as global rather than national.”

Warwick noted that technology has always been a tool that can be used for good as well as oppressive purposes. Information and communication technologies have helped to facilitate the overthrow of democratically elected governments in Latin America, and they have helped to enable totalitarian regimes to maintain power and control over their populations in Central and Eastern Europe.

But he also noted that technology can be a very powerful force for positive change. “Intelligent information can be a tremendously effective tool both in the hands of democratic governments as well as in the hands of citizens,” Warwick said. “For example, using automated classification systems can help to codify the law, and make it more transparent and accessible to people. Access to justice through the development of a modern and efficient court system to quickly resolve disputes is a key component of the rule of law and of a legal system that works for the benefit of all.”

Dr. ElBaradei was brilliant. You might think that a career as head of a global organization that monitors and manages nuclear weapons proliferation would have something of a bias against technology, but Dr. ElBaradei also sees technology as an important part of the answer to injustice and oppression.

He talked about the use of social media technology to put oppression on trial in front of the world, and held up the recent election in Iran as an example. “Now, when an atrocity occurs, a photo can be put on Twitter for all to see.” He also said that Facebook has been used successfully to shine a light on government wrongdoings, and said that several Facebook pages have been helpful in his efforts to promote democracy.

Dr. ElBaradei has been a player on the world stage for decades and his examples from history and his own experience spanned World War II to the present day.

John Bringardner recaps the session with Warwick and ElBaradei on Law.com.

“Supreme Court Week” on the network will feature interviews with 11 of the current and living retired United States Supreme Court Justices. It starts this Sunday, Oct. 4 at 9 p.m. Eastern with the documentary The Supreme Court: Home To America’s Highest Court, and continues each night through Oct. 11.

The timing of the programming coincides with the start of the Court’s new term and the beginning of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s tenure on the bench.

(C-SPAN)

As the co-author of a book published by West, we’ll be particularly interested in the segments featuring Justice Antonin Scalia (Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges). He’s featured in the documentary and in an interview that will air on Oct. 9.

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog posted some excerpts of Scalia’s interview with C-SPAN, in which he talks about the “quality of counsel” who appear before the court:

Well, you know, two chiefs ago, Chief Justice Burger, used to complain about the low quality of counsel. I used to have just the opposite reaction. I used to be disappointed that so many of the best minds in the country were being devoted to this enterprise…. I mean lawyers, after all, don’t produce anything. They enable other people to produce and to go on with their lives efficiently and in an atmosphere of freedom. That’s important, but it doesn’t put food on the table and there have to be other people who are doing that. And I worry that we are devoting too many of our very best minds to this enterprise.

C-SPAN’s “Supreme Court Week” also features numerous interviews with Supreme Court historians, journalists, attorneys and other legal analysts about the Court.

(C-SPAN)

I had the chance back in March to sit in the Supreme Court’s courtroom during oral arguments, during a visit with the Court’s Public Information staff. Being in that room, observing and listening to the justices, is something I’ll never forget. The sense of history in that majestic courtroom is overwhelming.

Hats off to C-SPAN for taking the time to communicate the Supreme Court’s significance through this programming. I should point out that they are supporting it through several social media platforms as well, including on Twitter at @cspan and their YouTube channel. (And, as a video editor, I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the production on Politico).

Here are some excerpts from C-SPAN’s interviews with the justices:

West’s development of the U.S. Constitution as an app is an extension of the company’s commitment to providing the text to the public. As this article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press explains, West has been printing a pocket Constitution since the 1980s, when Chief Justice Warren Burger asked West to make it.

Wednesday was the anniversary of the 1787 signing of the Constitution.

West’s app features the complete text of the U.S. Constitution, including a table of contents. Audio of the spoken text also is available.

Justin Hummel, a director in New Product Development for West, talks about the Constitution app in this video interview recorded at the American Association of law Libraries (AALL) Annual meeting:

We think Justin really would rather listen to the Constitution than Beyonce, by the way. You’ll have to watch the clip to catch his joke.

The U.S. Constitution app from West is available for $.99 on Apple’s App Store. And, as Justin mentioned in the video, the Black’s Law Dictionary app also is available in the 8th edition.

]]> http://legalcurrent.com/2009/09/18/constitution-goes-mobile-with-west/feed/ 3 http://legalcurrent.com/2009/01/15/videos-provide-insight-into-chinas-legal-market/ http://legalcurrent.com/2009/01/15/videos-provide-insight-into-chinas-legal-market/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:59:27 +0000 admin http://tnalcorpcomm.wordpress.com/?p=1452 The global launch of Westlaw China has given legal practitioners in the U.S. and U.K. greater access to Chinese legal information and accurate translation.

We now have some new video clips available that explain the current demands for Chinese legal research and the law in China. They feature Stephen Yao, president and chief executive officer of Westlaw China, and are posted on the West Web site and our YouTube channel.

Here’s the first clip, An Overview of the Chinese Legal System and Structure:

The other three videos featuring Yao are:

China’s Booming Legal Activity

Pain Points in Chinese Legal History

What Makes Westlaw China Different

In addition to those clips, this short video interview with Yao we posted to our YouTube channel in October features his thoughts on the demand for information on Chinese law among lawyers in the United States.