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Very cool. You talk to it, Siri translates.

I previously opined that I don’t think this law is a particularly good ideas:

I just see this as a way for the government to hide the fact that you are paying taxes. I like all taxes to be as prominent as possible. Theoretically, one of my biggest objections to the VAT is that people won’t see the taxes. It will just be subsumed in the price, and the government will not be involved.

Thom Lambert makes a similar point:

But how consumer-friendly is this rule?  Won’t it be easier to raise taxes and fees when they aren’t presented as a line item, when consumers aren’t “startled” to see the exorbitant amount they’re paying for government services?  Value-added taxes (VATs), which tax the incremental value added at each stage of production and are generally included in the posted price for an item, have proven easier to raise than sales taxes, which are added at the register.  That’s because the latter are more visible so that increases are more likely to generate political opposition.  While VATs are common throughout Europe, they’re virtually non-existent in the United States, in part because we Americans have recognized the important role “tax sticker shock” plays in creating political accountability.

Consumer advocates, nevertheless, are lauding the new Department of Transportation rule.  They don’t seem to realize that higher taxes are bad for consumers and that taxes are more likely to rise when the government can hide them.  They also seem to care little about consumer sovereignty.  Don’t consumers have a right to know how much they’re paying to have scads of Homeland Security officers bark orders at them and gawk at their privates?

And I got this email from Southwest (my favorite airline!):

This price advertising rule affects all airlines and requires that advertised fares include all government-imposed taxes and fees that the Customer is being asked to pay.

When you visit southwest.com^®, the fares displayed will now include all government excise tax, government segment fees, September 11th security fees, and airport passenger facility charges. It is important to note that fares have not increased, but that the initial fare display now includes all government-imposed taxes and fees. Customers have always paid these taxes and fees; however, previously these taxes and fees were added to the fare at time of purchase.

H/T Ian Milheiser

I need to take pains to distinguish my thinking from the so-called Formalistic reasoning of the early 20th century (see Brian Tamanaha’s Beyond the Formalist-Realist Divide for some good reading). I don’t think the answer to legal disputes can be scientifically deduced from the precedents (this was the position Holmes rejected). Rather, based on legal precedents, one can predict what a given judge/court will do with a specific legal problem. This is rather legal realist. Based on what a judge did before, he will do again. It’s not the precedent that guides him, by itself, but how he views that precedent.

LawSiteBlog writes about Rocket Matter, a system that automatically assembles documents, such as a complaint.

The Web-based practice management application Rocket Matter today released version 2.0 of its platform. The new version adds two notable features: document assembly and custom fields.

With this release, Rocket Matter becomes the only cloud-based practice management platform to integrate document assembly, according to Larry Port, the company’s co-founder and chief software architect.

The document assembly feature allows users to create templates for legal forms or other documents and then automatically merge client and matter data into a template to create a final document. As the user creates a document, Rocket Matter can also automatically create a billing entry.

The user creates the templates on his or her desktop, using Microsoft Word’s ability to create “merge fields.” Rocket Matter provides a guide for formatting these merge fields to work with its application. For those unfamiliar with using merge fields, Rocket Matter also provides links to guides that explain how to create and use them. As an example, to insert a client name in template, you’d use the fields: “«Client.Name»«Client.LastName»”.

Once you’ve created a template on your desktop, you upload it to Rocket Matter. As you upload it, the application checks it to ensure that you’ve properly formatted the merge fields. If there is an error, the application shows you which field contains the error. If you’ve set up all the fields properly, then the document is added to your template library, available to use for any client or matter.

Then, when you go to the dashboard for a matter within Rocket Matter, you see a new link, “Create from Template.” Click that to see a list of your available templates. Select a template and Rocket Matter automatically populates its fields with information such as party names, docket numbers, opposing counsel and the like. As it displays the final document, it shows the fields in a panel to the right. Click on any field in the panel to jump to that field in the document.

Custom Fields

With the addition of custom fields, Rocket Matter enables the user to customize these templates beyond the standard fields it already provides. Users can create an unlimited number of custom fields, both for matters and for contacts. And any custom field you create can become a merge field in a document template.

To create a custom field for a matter or contact, simply open the item. A portion of the screen is labeled “Data.” For a matter, this Data section includes the case number and county. For a contact, it includes date of birth, gender and Social Security number. Just below those data items are new horizontal columns with two headings, “Labels” and “Values.” Here is where you create a custom field. Click “add another” and simply fill in the label and value. For label, you might put “Secretary” and for value “John Jones.” You can also add custom fields when you create a new contact or matter.

A Preview of Rocket Matter 2.0: Document Assembly and Custom Fields from Rocket Matter on Vimeo.

Somewhat similar to WhichDraft.com, which is run by Jason Alderman.