why I love court websites: Reason 3

For the third installment of this mini-series on judicial websites, I have to admit to a certain amount of laziness and parsimony. Therefore, I like judicial websites that freely provide information that I used to have to trek over to the courthouse, telephone someone to obtain, or pay someone to receive.

For instance, I like to see what oral arguments are scheduled for the next few sessions of court, in case I find one that interests me. I like to keep up with slip opinions from my state's appellate courts. I like seeing photographs of new judges who've joined the bench. I scan the ethics opinions and disciplinary notices for scary stories to share with my students, hoping I'll never see one of their names in a similar publication. I like to read the annual statistics on court workloads, filings, and other indicia of the state of the judicial system. And I like having all these things available to me from my desktop.

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