iLawStudent.com

A flyer at the library caught my eye.  It was a promo for AudioCaseFiles.com.  As you would expect, the backbone of the site is you can download and listen to case summaries.  Since my law school is a member (more on that later), I signed up so I could give you a first hand review.  The sign up was very simple and took all of a minute.  The cases available are mostly limited to first year courses, but they did have evidence, corporations, and IP files.  The download was quick and went straight to iTunes.

Whether you like the end product or not is going to depend on your learning style.  If you thrive in absorbing information by listening, this is right up your alley.  I need to read cases on paper and highlight selections as I go.  The text on the website is very limited so they don’t profess how exactly they think AudioCaseFiles should be utilized.  Their function is generally defined in one line:

“Our audio and video are powerful educational and training tools for both students and legal professionals.”

My take is ideally they would like to envision you opening up your iPod rather than your book to extract your legal information from cases.  If the fish slips through that net, then if nothing else they provide an alternative and more direct way of presenting legal cases.  If you desire a more thorough understanding of a case, I think ACF would also accept themself as a buttress to reading.  This is the more realistic scenario.

One awesome feature is the ability to search by either case name or casebook.  The case playback is also extremely thorough – in fact its thorough to a fault.  Marbury vs. Madison measures 28 minutes long.  Sullivan vs. O’Connor is 16 minutes.  Hanover Star Milling Co. vs. Metcalf  (IP case) is 8 minutes.  Hanson vs. Denckla was 34 minutes.  Its hard to knock them for the timlineness though.  Imagine the balancing act here.  You want a clear and concise voice.  You can’t race through the cases.  You also want to thoroughly cover the material so nothing gets left out.

The voices for the cases I opened were all male.  Most had a crisp, bland voice and spoke in a deliberate, medium paced fashion.

The business model here appears to be selling law schools on having this option for their students.  They also hold themselves out as serving law firms, but my suspicion is the focus rests on preliminary education.  Currently individuals cannot purchase the audio through the website.  The logic here has to fall along the lines of purchasing power.  A school contract will yield more than 4 or 5 scattered sign-ups here and there.

Overall, I like the AudioCaseFiles initiative.  Its creative and seeks to facilitate learning through central based web technology.  I encourage you to take a test drive (if you can) and see what ACF can do for you.  Send me an email or comment so we can get a better idea of the utility.