[blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility

Wed Feb 19 21:47:26 UTC 2020

Alas no. As far as I know, that feature is not accessible--or if it is, 
I certainly don't know how to use it. All I can do is copy the full case 
cite with or without a hyperlink, depending on whether I select that 
option. One advantage of Edge, however, is that you can go directly to a 
specific page of a case without having to keep searching on *. This is 
great when Jaws loses its place, which happens all too frequently.

On 2/19/2020 3:29 PM, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw wrote:
> Hi Brian,
>
> To make sure we're talking about the same thing, I'm talking about the
> feature where you can highlight a sentence in a case, and then copy
> that sentence along with the citation, including the pin cite.  Is
> that what you're talking about?
>
> On 2/19/20, Brian Unitt via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Laura,
>>
>> I have been using Edge for about six months with no problems. (Jaws 020 and
>> Chrome) There is a button labelled "copy document citation to clipboard."
>> Pressing enter brings up a dialog containing several elements. First is a
>> dropdown list of citation formats: standard (Bluebook), Westlaw, and a list
>> of states (I choose California as most of my work is in the California state
>> courts). Next is a checkbox for including a hyperlink (which doesn't seem to
>> work). Next are copy, cancel, and close copy window buttons. When I tab to
>> the copy button in this dialog and press enter, there is a slight lag before
>> hearing a message that says "citation was copied to the clipboard." Other
>> than the hyperlink option, copy citation works well.
>>
>> There is really not much difference using Edge from the prior version. The
>> overruling risk feature is usable, as is the compare version feature for
>> statutes. If you have someone from Westlaw walk you through those features
>> the first time, I think you will have no problem.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Brian
>> Brian C. Unitt
>> Certified Specialist in Appellate Law
>> State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
>>
>> Holstein, Taylor and Unitt
>> A Professional Corporation
>> 4300 Latham Street, Suite 103
>> Riverside, CA 92501
>> P: 951-682-7030
>> F: 951-684-8061
>> E: brianunitt at holsteinlaw.com
>> www.holsteinlaw.com
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Laura Wolk via
>> BlindLaw
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 11:09 AM
>> To: slabarre at labarrelaw.com; Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Laura Wolk <laura.wolk at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility
>>
>> I'm so glad to hear about your positive experiences, Scott and James!
>> We were forcibly upgraded, but I reverted back because I didn't want to risk
>> it.  James, can you please give step-by-steps on how to use the copy cite
>> feature on edge?
>>
>> On 2/19/20, Scott C. LaBarre via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Hey Everyone, we have had a good relationship with Thomson Reuters and
>>> their West Law group over the years.  I am happy to approach them
>>> under the NABL flag but would like to aggregate issues if I can.  So
>>> if there are other issues besides the copy cite problem, please let me
>>> know.  By the way, I have converted over to Edge and everything I've
>>> tried thus far seems to work well but I am not yet a power user, by
>>> any means.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Scott
>>>
>>> slabarre at labarrelaw.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Singh,
>>> Nandini via BlindLaw
>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 9:25 AM
>>> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Singh, Nandini <NSingh at cov.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility
>>>
>>> Laura,
>>>
>>> I have brought up the copy cite issue each time I call Westlaw about
>>> its performance with JAWS. Whoever is assisting me writes it down for
>>> West's development team, but maybe there is not a critical mass of
>>> people requesting improvement since it has been something I have
>>> repeatedly raised.
>>> I am not sure what else could be the hang-up in this regard. There
>>> should be a technological solution other than my having to copy it
>>> from the case frontal matter.
>>>
>>> I am not sure about Edge and am probably just as concerned as you are.
>>> I am also dealing with a disastrous Windows update that has rendered
>>> my email and word processing nearly impossible to use, though I admit
>>> this is not quite the same problem of an inaccessible environment for
>>> JAWS. All the pointless updates and upgrades can really have a
>>> negative impact.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Nikki
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Laura Wolk
>>> via BlindLaw
>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 11:09 AM
>>> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Laura Wolk <laura.wolk at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: [blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility
>>>
>>> [EXTERNAL]
>>>
>>> All,
>>>
>>> What is the progress with Westlaw making the (very basic) Copy Cite
>>> feature accessible?  This is on my short list of things that NABL
>>> should be bringing its clout down , and probably should have years
>>> ago.  If I added up all the seconds it takes for me to glean this
>>> information that sighted people obtain with the click of a button...
>>> I'd be getting a lot more sleep.  Not to mention, Westlaw is used in
>>> every law school across the country for teaching purposes.  I'm still
>>> not really sure how it and Lexis have not been the subject of
>>> litigation on this point by now.
>>>
>>> Along that same line, apparently like all other companies westlaw has
>>> felt the need to update a not broken system to a new product called
>>> "Westlaw Edge."
>>> https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/insights/articles/announcing-westl
>>> aw-edg
>>> e
>>>
>>> I'm sure peoples' firms will be forcibly converted over time to this
>>> new platform.  Has NFB had any contact with the developpers to ensure
>>> that we don't have another horror show where these "latest and
>>> greatest" features are in fact not accessible and result in blind
>>> lawyers not being able to do their jobs?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Laura
>>>
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