USE OF COMPUTERS IN LEGAL PROFESSION

I Introduction
FEW TECHNOLOGICAL developments are formidable enough to mark turning
points in the history of civilisation. The invention of computers is one such
development. Today they affect every one of us in more ways than we can even
imagine. Computer revolution has influenced all walks of life. These little
machines have substantially changed the life style of most individuals and
especially of professionals throughout the world. According to a scholar, "com-
puters make out many of the bills we receive, and the bank cheques as well.
Computers help to regulate the flow of traffic on a busy city street, tell a
supermarket manager when his stock of detergents is running low, and help a
doctor make his diagnosis." 1 They are creating a lot of jobs. Also they are
eliminating a lot of jobs and changing the nature of many others. As a matter of
fact, computers are affecting "the ways in which we think about the world, and
the ways in which we think about ourselves." 2
An American scholar well known for his works on the topic of 'Computers in
Law*, has made the following observations on the use and significance of com-
puters as research tools:
The computer captures the imagination of many researchers. It offers an
opportunity to store vase quantities of data in a comparatively small
space, the ability to search this data very rapidly and make selections
therefrom and the ability to manipulate or "massage" the data to produce
a result in a format particularly useful to the individual researcher. One
of the advantages frequently touted for computerised legal research is the
possibility of placing into the computer's storage area or memory banks
the full text of whatever document is someday to be retrieved.3
It is appropriate to mention here that whereas the use of computers and other
electronic devices in the legal profession has been advocated in the West for the
last forty years or so, 4 hardly any worthwhile attention seems to have been paid
in India until the recent past towards highlighting their use and significance in this
area except for some occasional writings here and there.5 Among others, one of

1. Michael J. Xavier, "Are You Computer Literate?" The Hindustan Times, p. 8, 31 Jan. 1997.
2. Ibid.
3. Robert P. Bigelow, "The Use of Computers in the Law", 24 (4) Hastings Z.7 707 at 714-15 (1973).
4. In USA, for instance, members of the Bar and academics started giving serious consideration
to the practical application of the computer in the practice of law from the mid-1950s. For details, see
"Comment : Scientific Aids for Legal Research", 31 Chicago-Kent L Rev 236-54 (1953); Lawrence
Perry and Smith Biunno, "Implications of Automation for Lawyers", 49 Library L J 399-410 (1956);
Larry Mehl, "Automation in the Legal World", Proceedings of a Symposium on Mechanisations of
Thought Process 33-39 (1958); John Fred, "Computer Printouts as Evidence", 16 American J Proof of
Facts 245-62 (1965).
5. See, e.g., Deepak Gupta and Virendra Gupta, "Courts and Computers", 17 (3) JILI 469-73
(1975); A.Y. Asundi, "Computerised Legal Information Services: Images, Reflections and Diversi-
ties", Proceedings of the Seminar on Computer and Law, 25-26 Feb. 1989 (19890. N.R. Madhava
Menon, "Computers and the Law : Can We Afford to Wait", in ibid.

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the reasons for this indifference appears to be the nearly complete ignorance about
the utility and efficacy of such devices which in turn has perhaps been due to their
exorbitant costs as well as their non-availability. This fact is coupled with the
inability not only of the individual lawyers, law teachers, researchers and other
professionals but even of law firms and institutions of higher learning to afford
such devices for their use by persons working therein respectively. Notwithstand-
ing all this, the consensus that is emerging now in India is that in view of
increasing globalisation of the legal profession, use of computers in this profes-
sion too has become the need of the day.
The object of this paper is to highlight the significance and use of computers
in the present day legal profession. The author has endeavoured to demonstrate
as to how important is the use of computers for lawyers, law teachers and law
courts. In conclusion, he has argued that there is an immediate need for exposing
the legal fraternity in India in general and law teachers and researchers in
particular, to the modern computerised technology so as to enable them to produce
the legal outputs of high standard and quality.

II Use of computers in legal education and research

Computers have a very important role to play in modern legal education and
research. For instance, law schools have to generate a variety of written materials
for students as well as for other academic purposes, such as for conferences,
meetings, moot-courts, seminars and workshops, etc. Almost every law faculty
has to supply to the students, the summaries of case law decided by the Supreme
Court, High Courts and tribunals, etc. These summaries are normally printed
every year by the university press and the cost of printing is sometimes enormous.
Every time the faculty has to pay the printing and composing charges to the press.
However, on the other hand, if the text is once typed and stored in the memory
of a computer, the required number of copies can be printed out every year. This-
is likely to be relatively much less time consuming as well as a much less
expensive exercise in comparison to the printing business. With the computer
facilities available in a law school or a law faculty, all other types of expenses,
say for example, expenses on cyclostyling can also be saved. Once we have a
master print of the required document, it can be easily photocopied and distributed
amongst the students. Similarly, students can also type and prepare their project
reports, etc., on computer, provided the facility is available to them, too. Nowa-
days, computers are also being considered as valuable aids in law teaching. Thus,
as a matter of fact, there are so many ways in which computers can be of great
help and utility in modern legal education.6
Computers have an equally significant role to play in legal research. For
instance, every researcher working for a post-graduate essay, an M.Phil/LL.M.
dissertation or Ph.D. thesis has to prepare a working bibliography. In normal
practice, he writes down names of the references and bibliographical sources on
plain pages or on reference cards. Later on at the time of final report writing, the

6. For further details, see, Thomas Burris, Teaching Law with Computers : A Collection of Essays
(1979); Mary Ann Mason, An Introduction to Using Computers in the Law (1984).

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researcher has to arrange those cards in bibliographical order and hand it over to
the typist. If a single card is wrongly arranged, it is likely to be wrongly typed.
Moreover, if a researcher is engaged in research on a topic on which literature
appears quite frequently in the journals, articles, and newspapers, etc., he may
have to update the text from time to time and very obviously the entries in the
bibliography would also change. The major problem arises when the dissertation
or the thesis is at the typing stage and some significant case is decided by the
higher judiciary or some relevant literature appears which a researcher finds
absolutely important to incorporate in his study. If he is working on a computer,
he need not prepare any bibliographical cards, etc. Once bibliographical entries
are put into the computer's memory, they stay there forever. One can add, remove
or make any type of modification in them without re-writing anything. In case any
entry needs to be dropped at the last moment, one can remove it easily. Similarly,
if any entry in case list or even in the text of the dissertation/thesis is tQ be made
at the last stage, it can be made without any hassle. In this process, the computer
will automatically adjust the new entry and the page sequence would not be
disturbed at all.
Another great advantage of the data processing through computers is that a
researcher can make use of bibliographical sources even after he has submitted the
dissertation/thesis, etc. If he wants to list some of the references for some article
or research paper, etc., there is no need for re-typing them at all. The required
reference can be selected and very easily copied on another computer file opened
by him and the original bibliography stays there without any modification what-
soever. The same is applicable to entries in the list of, (/) cases, (ii) statutes and
glossary of acronyms and abbreviations and even to the chapters, etc.
One of the important benefits of computer-assisted legal research is that the
text of anything typed in the computer can be stored there forever. It can be
changed, modified and/or re-modified by the researcher until even upto the last
day before the text is finally printed. Very obviously, there does not arise any need
for re-writing of the entire text. Moreover, if some paragraph is to be omitted and
another paragraph is to be inserted, there is no need to write the entire page. The
computer adjusts this change automatically. Similarly, the page numbers also
change automatically.
In almost all the cases, a post-graduate student writing an LL.M. dissertation
or a doctoral scholar writing a Ph.D. thesis has to periodically hand over the
written chapter drafts to his/her supervisor/research guide for their comments,
corrections and suggestions, etc. A research scholar has to write the entire draft
and submit to his/her guide. If the guide suggests substantial modifications and
asks for the revised draft, the scholar has to submit the same, too. This is obviously
quite taxing as well as time-consuming for a researcher. Further, some supervisors
insist on accepting only typed versions of the drafts which often proves quite
expensive for the scholar. However, if a researcher has access to computer
facilities even in an institution, it can make a lot of difference. For example, once
the text of the chapter is typed in the computer, it is stored there in its memory.
One may make any number of modifications in such text and it stays there. One
can print the text as many times as one desires. The corrections can be carried out

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very easily and, of course, very frequently.

Another point which deserves mention here is that where the researcher and
research supervisor work on the same computer in the institution or even on their
own PCs respectively, as most academics do in countries like UK and USA, a
researcher need not even print out the entire chapter draft. The draft can easily be
transferred on a small computer disk/floppy and handed over to the supervisor who
would in turn insert the same floppy in his/her computer, carry out the necessary
corrections and return the floppy to the researcher. On inserting the floppy in the
computer, the researcher can note down the comments made by the supervisor and
carry out the necessary corrections in the text. This saves time, energy, effort and
money.
There is another benefit of computer-assisted legal research and that is, a
researcher can exchange the floppies with his/her counterparts and contemporar-
ies, too. That way it facilitates the flow of information amongst the researchers
working in the same field or on related topics of research. This also leads to
division of labour. One research scholar can work on one topic and another can
work on another and they can exchange the information collected by them
respectively. This applies to preparation of bibliographies also. Such exercises
save half the time and serve double the purpose.
It goes without saying that a research scholar — at least a Ph.D. student —
desires that once awarded the degree, his/her work should be published. And it is
also very clear that the format, writing style and contents of a Ph.D. thesis are
bound to differ substantially from the manuscript of a book. In the normal
practice, when a Ph.D. scholar is awarded a degree, he has to make substantial
modifications in the text — mostly on the lines suggested by the examiners and
later on by the publishers. Once again, this is a very time-consuming and taxing
problem for the scholars who are apparently too much exhausted after three to four
years of intensive work for their thesis. Therefore, most scholars are no more
interested in undertaking such an exercise. As a result thereof, sometimes a work
of an exceptionally good quality and high standard, which could have easily been
published as well as accepted and appreciated by the academic world and the later
researchers, continues to gather dust in the libraries. On the other hand, if the text
of the work is already there on the computer, no such problem arises. A file
containing the text of the thesis can be copied on a plain file and then the
researcher can modify the text on the lines chosen by him/her. This way the
original text of the dissertation also stays there and a new manuscript gets ready
almost simultaneously. And if the publisher also accepts, the entire manuscript
can be copied on a pocket sized thin floppy and handed over to the publisher. This
saves his labour, time and money on composing and typesetting the entire
manuscript. Obviously, the book can be published in much less time than it would
otherwise have been possible.
Last but not the least, the information and data stored in computer by the
researcher can be re-utilised for the purposes of publication of research papers
also. For instance, there are six or seven chapters of a thesis and these are
contained in six or seven files. If the researcher so desires he can modify certain
things and each chapter of the dissertation or thesis can turn into a full-fledged

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research paper. The researcher does not need to re-type the paper. The chapter is
already a typed one and a copy can be made separately. This way the original
chapter also stays there in the computer memory and the new folder containing
the article is also stored. All new developments, new case law and new references,
etc., can be inserted in the paper to make it absolutely upto date. Contrary to what
we have in India, in the western countries, a Ph.D. scholar is considered as well
within his right to show and discuss some part/percentage of his thesis even to
one's external examiners. Similarly, the research scholars in these countries are
permitted and rather encouraged to get some part of their research work published
in the form of articles and research papers in journals even before the final
submission of an essay/dissertation/thesis. This goes to the credit of the scholar
and he is appreciated on this account at the time of his/her viva-voce (oral
examination). It encourages a scholar to work more and more as one gets immense
pleasure and satisfaction to see one's own work in print even before a research
degree is finally conferred upon him/her. Thus, computers play a very important
role in legal education and research. 7
As such a post-graduate student, a Ph.D. scholar, a researcher as well as a law
teacher can make the best use of computer in legal education and research.

Ill Use of computers for lawyers

When one walks into a lawyer's office, one is greeted with hundreds of books
which contain an enormous amount of information, on the facts and judgments of
cases decided by all the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India. It is too much
to expect that anybody could, or rather would, try to read all these books. This is
perhaps out of question. As a matter of fact, these books are reference material.
When faced with a particular type of proposition, lawyers hunt through these
books trying to find some case that had similar facts and was decided by some
court. One can well imagine the effort and energy required for such an exercise-
sifting through those mountains of information in search of something that one
hopes does exist.
In the West, the published material on how lawyers can use computers in their
day to day routine now number in the hundreds — perhaps thousands of articles,8
As a matter of fact, lawyers in the advanced countries have since long been

7. For further details see, W.G. Harrington, "Computers and Legal Research", 56 Am B Ass'n J
1145-53 (1979); John Hamilton, "Computer Assisted Legal Research", 51 Oregon L Rev 666-75
(1972); John Sprowl, A Manualfor Computer-Assisted Legal Research (1976); Miles O. Price, Effective
Legal Research (4th ed. 1979); John Yogis, A Comparison of Automated and Manual Legal Research
: A Comprehensive Study (1981). W.G. Harrington, "A Brief History of Computer-Assisted Legal
Research", 77(3) L Library J 543-56 (1984-85); Gillian Bull, "Computer-Assisted Legal Research",
in R.G. Logan (ed.), Information Sources in Law 337-49 (1986); Nancy Shephardson, "Computers and
the Law : the Desk Top Revolution", Am B Ass'n J, 77-93 (Aug. 1988).
8. See, for example, S. Eidelman, "Micro Computersin the Law Office", Small Business Comput-
ers 7-12 (Sept.-Oct. 1982), Smith Berkow and David Baer, "Law Firms and Word Processors: Current
Status and Future Directions", 23 Law Office Economic and Management 72-88 (Spring 1982); Issac
Asimov, "The Next 70 Years for Law and Lawyers", 69 Am B Ass'n J 65-67 (Dec. 1985); Ian F.G.
Baxter "The Computer and the Lawyer", 13 Canadian Bus L J 444-67 (1987-88).

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1997] USE OF COMPUTERS IN LEGAL PROFESSION 317

making use of computers in their day to day chamber work. However, it appears
that their use was primarily confined to the word processing or at the most storage
and retrieval of information relating to their client's cases, etc. Most recently, the
computer manufacturers in USA have come out with powerful computer systems
that enable law firms to even use the internet for everything from legal research
to international communication.9
In India too, computers are now beginning to have a discernable impact on the
management of a lawyer's office. As a matter of fact, a computer offers direct
benefits to a legal practitioner. Computer technology is being used for legal
storage and retrieval, legal analysis and prediction.10 Many lawyers have accepted
the computer in its role as an accounting and book-keeping aid. In essence, there
are still many more unexplored uses of the computer and electronic data process-
ing as an aid to the lawyer in his office management activities.
The data base that a lawyer must research in order to determine the answer
to his client's problem is expanding rapidly. Not only are the legislatures enacting
new laws, but new fields of law are coming into prominence. These, inter alia,
include broadcasting law, consumer protection law, drugs and narcotics law,
education law, election law, environment law, human rights and humanitarian
law, intellectual property law, service law and victimology. All these fields have
developed during the 1980s and early 1990s. Each field brings with it new statutes,
new cases, new treatises and even new case reporters.11 Therefore, a lawyer has
to do a lot of research to find out the most uptodate and most relevant case on his
topic.
Computers can help free lawyers from the drudgery of legal research which
can consume a great block of their time. Computerised legal searching can in
seconds, minutes or hours, perform case research that previously would have
taken weeks or months. Computerised research frees lawyers from the clerical
procedure of thumbing through indices and reference texts as well as eliminating
the possibility of overlooking an important precedent because of the lack of a
computer library, or simply by human error because of boredom, frustration or
fatigue. Computer research lets the lawyer spend the bulk of his time in concen-
trating on the law which the computer gives him instead of spending that time in
a thick of books looking for it.12 Moody explains the entire scenario in the

9. See, Doug Levy, "Lawyers Learn to get Technology on Their Side", The Times of India, p. 13
29 April 1997.
10. For a detailed study on the role of computers in prediction and legal analysis, see, Gerald
Fleischmann and Philip Scaletta, "Use of Computer Technology in Legal Analysis and Prediction",
\\{\) Am Bus L J 251-69 (Spring 1973).
11. In India, for example, even though consumer protection law has developed in the early 1990s,
there are now at least ten Consumer Law Reporters which exclusively publish the case law on consumer
protection in India. Out of these, four prominent reporters are ; (/) Consumer Protection Cases; (ii)
Consumer Protection Judgements; {Hi) Consumer Protection Reporter:, and (/v) Consumer Protection
and Trade Practices Journal, This shows the growing amount of case law and of case law reporters in
one particular field.
12. Gerald Fleischmann and Philip Sealetta, supra note 10 at 254. Also see, Igor Kavass and H.A.
Hood, "Computerised Legal Database : An International Survey", 3-4 Int'l J Legal Information 1 1-27
(1983) and H.A. Hood, "Disk and DAT : Recent Developments in Legal Database and Emerging
Information Technology", id. at 77-90.

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following words:

[T]he potential impact of computer science upon the law is great. The
speed of computers makes the bulk of the law relatively insignificant. The
potential flexibility of indexing by computers may render present index-
ing systems obsolete. The lawyer of tomorrow may notice a significant
reduction in his research time, thus increasing his ability to provide
services to his clients. With the removal of the human element from the
actual researching and considering the thoroughness of computers, the
quality of the lawyer's services, as well as the quantity, may increase. If
opposing lawyers have "all" the law, the possibility of ill-founded court
decisions would more than likely decrease, and the possibility of compro-
mise between parties would increase, thereby relieving some of the case-
load burden upon the congested court dockets. 13

In India, Lucknow-based law publishing company — Messrs Eastern Book

Company Ltd.— has now successfully ventured in this field. They have intro-
duced, what they call an "extremely user friendly and a revolutionary research
tool for the legal community — a computerised law information database." The
said company has come out with a unique Case Finder — SCC Online. The
software package is in the form of a Compact Disk — Read Only Memory (CD-
ROM) 14 that contains case law on all topics right from the year 1950 with a regular
update service. It can be installed on one's personal desktop or portable computer.
According to publishers the installation procedure for the Case Finder Software
Programme is extremely simple. The author did talk to a few lawyers who are
having computers in their offices and according to them, the Case Finder Software
Programme is an extremely useful research tool. The only requirement is the
availability of a PC in one's office/chamber.
Obviously, this kind of package is likely to be priceless, not only for lawyers,
but even for people in allied fields like those working in corporate or government
legal cells. Law students too could drive immense benefits from such a package.
If one looks at the price of the entire package, obviously it is beyond the reach
of any common person with a passing interest in law. However, according to the
users of this package, when compared to the cost of procuring all those case law
reporters, digests and manuals, "this seems peanuts." 15 Levy aptly sums up the
entire scenario in the following words:

13. David Thomas Moody, "Legal Research - Computer Retrieval of Statutory Law and Deci-
sional Law", 19 (2) Vand LRev 905 at 917-18. Also see, James P. Chandler, "Computers and the Case
Law", 3 (2) Rutzers J Computer & L Information 202-18 (1974).
14. For further details on the various types and utility of optical disks which can be used by the
lawyers for storage of the relevant data, e.g., (i) Compact Disk — Read Only Memory (CD-ROM); (//')
Write Once Read Many Times (WORM); (iv) Compact Disk Interactive (CD-I); (v) Erasable Disk; and
(v0 Hybrid Disks, etc., see, F.G. Baxter, supra note 8 at 444-67. Also see, John Bairstow, "CD-ROM:
Mass Storage for the Mass Market", High Technology 44-51 (Oct. 1986). However lor a detailed
glossary of the most frequently used computer jargon, see, Kanwal Puri, "Copyright in Software"
National L. School J 31-53 esp, 49-53 (1989).
15. See, Harpreet Singh Giani, "Lawyers's Best Friend", The Indian Express, p. 13. 19 Nov. 1996.

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1997] USE OF COMPUTERS IN LEGAL PROFESSION 319

Over time, experts are expecting the chasm within the legal profession
between the computer-literate and computer-challenged to narrow. Law-
yers are going to be working with clients who are continually working
with technology. If lawyers are intelligent about these developments,
they can keep up with the clients. 16

Thus computers can be of immense use and utility for the modern lawyers and
law firms.

IV Use of computers in law courts

Computers are also expected to play an important role in the administration
of justice in law courts. Speaking of the use of modern technology in the public
administration of justice, the former Chief Justice of India, R.S. Pathak had
observed that while the customary mechanisms and the tools adopted by the
judicial process as well as by legal profession were old and relatively slow to
change, their clientele operated in a rapidly changing technology-dependent
environment. According to him, business enterprises and the organisations of
society had grown even more complex. This had resulted in breaking down the
required balance between the inputs (i.e., the number of cases and controversies
brought before the judicial process) and the outputs (i.e., the number of cases and
controversies resolved through the judicial process) resulting in a corresponding
accretion in the stress and burden of backlogs and arrears of cases. Therefore, it
was apparent that there was an urgent need to adopt the new technology in court
management if the judicial process had to keep pace with the dynamic changes in
modern society.17
According to Chief Justice Pathak, the most critical application of computers
in the administration of justice lies in the court management and the maintenance
of records. Judicial resources like any other resources are limited and should be
employed effectively and efficiently.
The present system of listing and constituting Benches relies largely on the
skill employed in assessing the probable time of hearing in individual cases and
the ability to adjust rapidly to the changing and sometimes competing demands
of judges, counsel and parties for priority allocation and deferment. These diffi-
culties multiply in quantity as well as in complexity as the quantum and nature
of the court's work expands. The computer is well suited to take care of these
demands on the judicial process, and particularly on the Chief Justices and key
officials of the Registry of Courts. The memory of the computer will record details
of, (/) availability of particular judges; (ii) changing state of lists; (Hi) composi-
tion of various Benches; and (iv) requirements of counsel and parties. The
computer's rapid processing ability can be used to reschedule a list of short notice
so as to take into account all these problematic factors. Orders and judgments are
part of the public record. Unfortunately, considering the volume of work handled

16. Doug Levy, supra note 9 at 13.

17. R.S. Pathak quoted by Lalit Bhasin : "Prospects for Computer Application for Law", 1
National L School J, supra note 14 at 78.

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by our courts, it is not possible to trace unreported judgments easily. Feeding them
into a central computer and allowing access to these data banks would be of
considerable assistance to litigants and lawyers.18
In the western countries, computers are now being effectively used in law
courts. For instance, Levy explains the scenario in USA in the following words:

Courtroom experts say lawyers can no longer ignore technology such as

the Internet if they want to succeed. In fact, many judges welcome
computer-generated exhibits because it's faster to change image on a
computer than to juggle large boards, and clear graphics make it easier
for jurors to understand complex issues.19

Courtrooms in at least 29 American states now have computer systems that

enable court stenographers to type directly into the computer and display trial
transcripts in record time. 20
According to some experts, computers make it possible to easily show
animated explanations of complex procedures or simply to retrieve text from
massive depositions. The new systems make it possible for lawyers to bring entire
case files on indexed and annotated CD-ROMS.
The electronic experts are using 'Computer Animation' and 'Computer Aided
Design' software to make images of auto crashes and crime scenes. Their cre-
ations try to answer questions like, (i) What was the driver's view on the foggy
night of the accident? (ii) Where were the blood splotches located? (Hi) What the
witnesses could and could not see from the third-story window? The goal of
forensic animation is to "show' eyewitness or expert testimony to the jury. It is
in this connection that the PC Animation helps the legal system.11
For example in 1993, a basketball player in USA was crushed to death by a
truck. The truck driver admitted that he was driving at 55 miles per hour (mph),
10 mph over the speed limit. Now, the main issues involved in this 14-million
dollar law suit filed by the player's family against the truck driver and his
employer were : (0 whether the driver was at fault; and (ii) whether he was
negligent by driving at 55 mph in a 45 mph zone? 22
A computer expert helped the defence present its case. Since 'Computer
Animation' is an 'illustrative tool', he started by looking at the reports from the
police. At the same time, an accident investigator also helped him reconstruct the
accident. From the date that included the truck's actual braking distance, the
computer expert created two images of the accident. One showed the truck moving
at 10 mph over the speed limit. The second one showed it travelling at the speed
limit of 45 mph. Thus it turned out that even if the truck had been driving within

18. Id. at 78-79.

19. Doug Levy, supra note 9 at 13.
20. Ibid.
21. B. Basu, "Animated Evidence — Taking Computers to Courts", The Tribune, p. 14. 2 Jan.
1997.
22. Ibid.

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the speed limit, it would still have hit the player's car. The defence argued that
although the impact was not quite as direct at the speed limit, it would still have
been fatal, and thus negligence did not contribute to the accident. The jury agreed
that the accident was caused by the player's failure to look at traffic before
climbing onto the roadway.23
Notwithstanding all this, computer experts acknowledge that the 'Computer
Animation' certainly runs the risk of "creating reality" rather than "illustrating"
it. This is perhaps the reason as to why these experts are asked to testify during
frame-by-frame interrogation thereby explaining the factual basis for the anima-
tion. As a matter of fact, animations are one form of forensic reconstruction —
the attempt to mimic conditions before a crime took place. In fact, forensic experts
have been doing reconstructions for years to try to figure out what a disappeared
person would look like after 10 years or what caused death in a badly degraded
body.24
Experts are of the view that introduction of the computer into the animation
field has opened a whole new world of ideas, as well as making some older
techniques easier to accomplish. Computer animation and computer graphics are
used today to make anything from television logos to architectural layouts. But
when animation is used to 'frame' or 'exonerate' an accused person, everything
is made up of hard facts.25
Another way that computers are changing trials is that lawyers can show a
videotaped excerpt from a witness deposition very quickly. To challenge a
witness's live testimony in court, the lawyer need only wave a bar code reader pen
on his deposition index and the appropriate excerpt pops onto monitors from a CD-
ROM.26
It is primarily due to the recent computerisation facility that the Supreme
Court of India has been able to deal with around 25,000 cases within a short span
of time.27 The Law Ministry at New Delhi is now planning to create an Internet
site where all case law relating to the Supreme Court, High Courts and tribunals
will be available.28 In future, one could also expect computerisation facilities even
at the level of district courts in the country.

V Conclusion
While the author has strongly advocated the use and utility of computers he
would also like to add a few words about the possible and probable misuse of
computers. Even computer experts are of the confirmed view that while their
versatility is a great boom, they are also easy victims to the manipulations of

23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Doug Levy, supra note 9 at 13.
27. See, "Only 1 PC of People Pay IT : Minister", The Tribune, p. 2, 18 May 1996.
28. See, "Major Changes in CPC on the Anvil, Says Khalap", The Indian Express, p. 1, 18 May
1996.

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322 JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE [Vol. 3 9 : 2 - 4

criminals with technical expertise. 29 Experts on white collar crime aver that the
chances of a computer crime being detected is one in ten thousand. According to
them, it is also easy for the computer criminal to commit the crime without leaving
behind any sign which makes the investigation and subsequent prosecution ex-
tremely difficult. However, at the same time experts are of the view that the
majority of computer crimes can be prevented with minor care and caution on the
one hand as well as with a well structured crime prevention strategy on the other.30
In the second place, it may also be mentioned that whereas computers have
come to occupy a very significant role in the modern legal research, they only
supplement and can hardly replace library or any other type of manual research.
According to McGuire, there are "no rigid rules governing the precise combina-
tion of the two methods; this will vary according to the issues involved and the
individual lawyers research habits."31 Further he observes :

The unique contribution of computerised legal information retrieval

would appear to lie in the fact that it offers the lawyer a new and different
method of accessing the law. Its practical time-saving advantages can
provide the busy practitioner with a viable method to improve general
research habits, and this factor alone seems to promise continued inten-
sive use and development in the future.32

Thus powerful as the computer may seem, the lawyer cannot be replaced. He
must obtain the facts and characterise the problem. At this point the computer may
perform the research based upon the lawyer's characterisation. After obtaining the
relevant material from the computer search, the lawyer must analyse and evaluate
the material and apply the law based upon this evaluation.
In summing up, it may be observed that the next generation is the generation
of computers. No serious lawyer, law teacher, and legal researcher in India can
do without computers in the next decade. If not highly technical, at least a working
knowledge of computers is a must for every person connected with the legal
profession in whatsoever manner. As indicated above, some of the law publishers
are now offering information/data concerning the decided case law on computer
floppies. Like the western countries, most law libraries in India are also likely to
become fully computerised in future.33 Therefore, the earlier the lawyers, law
teachers, and legal researchers are exposed to the use of computer technology, the

29. In the advanced countries, computer criminals have stolen vast sums from banks; used confi-
dential information available with the public authorities, banks and hospitals to blackmail and extort
money from people; and assisted unscrupulous business competitors to steal information about pro-
cesses, formulate know-how, marketing and manufacturing plans, etc., from rivals. For further details,
see, S. Subramaniam, "Combating Computer Crime", The Hindustan Times, p. 12, 18 April, 1995.
30. Ibid.
31. M. McGuire, "Computer Assisted Legal Research : Some Fundamental Concepts". 3 1 U New
Brunswick L J 232-41 at 239 (1987). Also see, William L. Biaine, "Computers and Legal Research".
50(2) California St B J 100-4 (1975).
32. M. McGuire, id. at 239.
33. For details see, P.K. Patil, "Computerised Library System and the Legal Profession", 1
National L School J, supra note 14 at 101-7.

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1997] USE OF COMPUTERS IN LEGAL PROFESSION 323

better it is. In the case of legal research, in the first instance, if an institution can
afford one computer, it may be advisable to systematically expose the faculty
members, research scholars and post-graduate students to the new facility. The use
of computers could also help facilitate the exchange of information amongst the
different law faculties. There may also be a considerable scope of collaborative
research endeavours in the field of law which in turn shall give fillip to the
generation of quality research works which are lacking in this field. Thus the
conclusion is inevitable. There is an urgent need for computerised and scientific
legal outputs from the legal profession as a whole.
Gurjeet Singh*

* Reader in Law, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

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