Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Legal Blog Watch

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

Is PACER Providing Sufficient Public Access to Federal Court Documents?

By Eric Lipman

ADVERTISEMENTS

Pop quiz: Do you know what PACER stands for? I, admittedly, had to look it up, despite having been a frequent user in years past. But it's Public Access to Court Electronic Records. We've previously covered the ongoing crusade (led by Carl Malamud) to make court documents, PACER and otherwise, available for free in several posts. In that last linked post, I mentioned that the federal government was engaged in a "comprehensive study" of how to improve its services to the public. Harlan Yu at Freedom to Tinker posted yesterday that the study has been completed, and while the results have not officially been released, he did find an interview with Bankruptcy Judge J. Rich Leonard, in which Leonard discusses some of the findings. Leonard paints a pretty rosy picture in terms of user satisfaction, claiming that 80 percent of surveyed users were purty darned happy with the system. But Yu questions the fundamental premises of the study: If we compare public access before we had PACER to where we are now, there is clearly much success to celebrate. But the key question is not only whether current users are satisfied with the service but also whether PACER is reaching...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 18, 2010 (boomark / email).