[blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility

Thu Feb 20 16:08:38 UTC 2020

You can spend some quality time with the JAWS help files, JAWS tutorials <https://www.freedomscientific.com/training/> from Freedom Scientific, looking up Windows keystrokes on Google, or looking up third party JAWS tutorials, like this one, <http://www.geocities.ws/jawsnotes/index.htm>  a bit dated but still a good place to begin. I have definitely typed in "how to do something using JAWS" into Google to see what is possible and have learned a lot that way.

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Sanho Steele-Louchart via BlindLaw
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2020 10:20 AM
To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Sanho Steele-Louchart <sanho817 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility

[EXTERNAL]

All,

Is there a good resource for learning the most advanced functions of JAWS? Many of you have some serious JAWS-jitsu.

Sanho

On 2/20/20, Tim Elder via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>> wrote:

> My recall is that there is a way to do it even in the old version of

> Westlaw.  I did not find it very efficient or reliable as compared to

> manually copying the text, case name and page number.  It requires

> some gymnastics with multiple JAWS cursors.  You must leave the text

> of the case highlighted and change focus to do a simulated mouse click

> on the copy citation button without disturbing the highlighted text.

> Using the virtual cursor alone to navigate to the button will remove

> the highlight when you try to navigate away.

>

> I'll also make a plug for Casetext.  They aren't perfectly accessible yet.

> They are, however, in a good position to take major market shares from

> the traditional providers.

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Laura Wolk <laura.wolk at gmail.com<mailto:laura.wolk at gmail.com>>

> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 12:29 PM

> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>>

> Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Westlaw and Accessibility

>

> 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<mailto: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<mailto:brianunitt at holsteinlaw.com>

>> www.holsteinlaw.com<http://www.holsteinlaw.com>

>>

>>

>> -----Original Message-----

>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto: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<mailto:slabarre at labarrelaw.com>; Blind Law Mailing List

>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>>

>> Cc: Laura Wolk <laura.wolk at gmail.com<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:slabarre at labarrelaw.com>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> -----Original Message-----

>>> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto: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<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>>

>>> Cc: Singh, Nandini <NSingh at cov.com<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:blindlaw at nfbnet.org>>

>>> Cc: Laura Wolk <laura.wolk at gmail.com<mailto: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-wes

>>> t

>>> l

>>> 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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>>

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