Legal Research

A Call for Contributions to Garvin's International Government Information Management Handbook

Posted on December 10, 2009
Peggy Garvin is putting together a roster of authors for a forthcoming book on government information management. Everyone knows or should know Peggy's many contributions to the field. Her works include e-Gov and Federal Web Directory: U.S. Federal Government Online...

Super Lawyer Rankings Adjusted for Law School Class Size

Posted on December 10, 2009
The 2010 Super Lawyers U.S. Law School Rankings fail to take into account the fact that larger law schools graduate more students than smaller ones. For example, Harvard has graduated more than twice as many lawyers as Yale has over...

Opening: Foreign & International Law Librarian, Duke

Posted on December 10, 2009
The J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke University is seeking an experienced Foreign and International Law Librarian to join our team of skilled law-trained professionals working in a research-oriented,technologically innovative environment. In addition to teaching legal research and other reference...

Coming Soon: "Limiting Knowledge in a Democracy"

Posted on December 10, 2009
Social Research: An International Quarterly of the Social Sciences, will host a conference---"Limiting Knowledge in a Democracy"---February 24-26, 2010, at New School University in New York City: The central question asked by this proposed conference is, where is America today...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Law School Final Exam Delirium Sets In: Dancing in the Law Library

Posted on December 09, 2009
Maryland Law School students go crazy over listserv requests for cat and house-sitters over winter break, Vanderbilt students (or at least one) are looking for new study and "friends with benefits" via Craigslist ads, Northwestern Law's SBA unleashes the PC...

ARL Releases Academic Law Library Statistics, 2007?2008

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Association of Research Libraries has published the ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2007-2008, compiled and edited by Martha Kyrillidou and Les Bland. The survey presents data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services of ARL-member academic libraries...

US Labor Department Releases Updated Employment Law Guide

Posted on December 09, 2009
An upadated version of the Department of Labor's fanstatic Employment Law Guide has been released. The guide describes the major employment laws administered by the department and incorporates recent changes to federal employment laws. "Fair and safe practices in the...

The Art of the Lawsuit

Posted on December 09, 2009
In The View From the First Chair: What Every Trial Lawyer Really Needs to Know (LawyerAvenue Press, Sept. 2009), Martin L. Grayson writes "the verdict or judgement, tells not only who won or lost a case, it is also a...

Save the Date: Copyright Clearing House Sponsors Webinar on Amended Google Book Settlement on Thursday, Dec. 10

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Copyright Clearance Center has invited IP attorney Lois Wasoff to present a one-hour online seminar/interview providing an in-depth review of the proposed settlement calling out all important deadlines for rightsholders. Wasoff will highlight the the most noteworthy changes, and...

Fair Use Argument Falls Flat in File Sharing Case

Posted on December 09, 2009
Monday saw the memorandum and order regarding the affirmative defense of fair use in the Joel Tenenbaum trial for illegal file-sharing of copyrighted music. Joel Tenenbaum, the defendant, was sued by various record labels on evidence gathered by RIAA investigator...

US News Survey Task Force

Posted on December 09, 2009
Last week, ALL-SIS formed a task force to address the methods employed by US News to evaluate law libraries in their annual law school rankings. This effort came after I conversed with Bob Morse at US News about the survey...

Google SLOJ Details Emerge on Law Librarian Blog Talk Radio

Posted on December 08, 2009
Rich Leiter and company did an interview with Google engineer Anurag Acharya on the Law Librarian Blog Talk Radio last Friday. The hour and a half broadcast was a fascinating look into Google Scholar Legal Opinions and Journals. Acharya is...

User Feedback Sought for HeinOnline's Faceted Searching

Posted on December 08, 2009
HeinOnline recently introduced faceted searching as a beta option for searching its Law Journal Library. If you haven't tried it yet, you can read more about it here. The Company is now asking for user feedback by conducting a brief...

Almost Free Online Legal Services Are as Stable as Commercial Services in Canada

Posted on December 08, 2009
All we need to do is look at what's been happening on the other side of the US-Canada border for proof. "Free access to legal information in Canada is here to stay. Of that fact, there can be no doubt,"...

Student Comment: Wikipedia should not be cited as an authoritative source on any topic

Posted on December 08, 2009
In Amber L. Wagner, Comment: Wikipedia Made Law? The Federal Judicial Citation of Wikipedia, 26 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info L. 229 (2008), the author examines the new and growing body of federal opinions citing Wikipedia an authoritative source....

Yahoo: More Web Destination Than Search Market Player

Posted on December 08, 2009
Microsoft?s Bing search engine continues to grab market share from Yahoo according to latest comScore stats, writes ZDNET's Larry Dignan. But it may not be time for Yahoo to hit the panic buttom. Dignan reports that one search industry financial...

Opening: Deputy Law Librarian of Congress

Posted on December 08, 2009
Deputy Law Librarian of Congress (Vacancy #: 090119) SL-0095-00 - Law Library (Office of the Law Librarian) - $117,787.00 - $162,900.00 Opening Date: Dec 1, 2009 Closing Date: Feb 2, 2010 The Deputy Law Librarian of Congress works under the...

Kudos to Winners of This Year's I Love My Librarian Award

Posted on December 07, 2009
Congratulations to the 10 winners of this year's I Love My Librarian Award presented by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Times. Public Librarians Sol A. Gómez Branch Manager, Librarian II Pima County Public Library, Sam...

Publisher's Weekly Lists Major Players in the Google Book Settlement

Posted on December 07, 2009
Publisher's Weekly has just published a short list of major players in the Google Book Settlement, along with some background information and a salient quote about the issue. My favorite comes from University of Michigan Librarian Paul Courant: ?But I...

A Tough Year Ahead for Thomson Reuters? Legal Division to Cut 240 Jobs; Operating Profits Decline in Legal and Tax and Accounting Divisions

Posted on December 07, 2009
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Thomson Reuters is cutting 240 jobs in its legal division because the division's performance has been hurt by layoffs and cost cutting at law firms. About 120 employees will be laid off in...

When You Need to Cite to the "Wisdom of the Crowd" Turn to Wikipedia

Posted on December 07, 2009
When should one cite to Wikipedia for authority? Check out Hannah Murray and Jason Miller's interesting contribution to this debate: Wikipedia in Court: When and How Citing Wikipedia and Other Consensus Websites is Appropriate [SSRN]. Here's the abstract: Practitioners and...

Web Shortcuts for Thomas.gov

Posted on December 07, 2009
As most of us are well aware of, the vast majority of links on Thomas.gov are not persistant. So the link you worked with just two months ago may very well be dead. The solution: tinyThom.as, an online tool for...

Need an Image for Your Website or Blog?

Posted on December 07, 2009
Barb Dybwad at Mashable posted this handy list of 26 Places to Find Free Multimedia for Your Blog. When using Creative Commons material, don't forget to comply with the terms of the license. Material in the public domain, of course,...

Friends with Benefits: New Book Offers Advice for Using Social Media

Posted on December 06, 2009
Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo's Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook (No (Starch Press, Nov. 22, 2009) has just been released. On Common Craft Blog, Lee Lefever writes: Friends with Benefits is very much a handbook. It provides....

U.S. Debt Clock Keeps Ticking

Posted on December 06, 2009
The purpose of U.S. Debt Clock is to inform the public of the financial condition of the United States of America. The numbers are laid out so as to give a complete real-time snap-shot of the country's balance sheet. A...

What Do Rankings Mean to Universities?

Posted on December 05, 2009
Try this from a Suffolk University Board of Trustee member quoted in the Boston Globe: ?I get angry when I?m standing in line at the grocery store and I see the rankings and we?re like a third-tier university,?? said Dennis...

Round-Up of State Practitioner Blogs

Posted on December 05, 2009
Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog http://www.centralnewyorkinjurylawyer.com http://www.centralnewyorkinjurylawyer.com/index.xml Examines injury law cases, news and reports in New York. Published by Michael & Smolak, PC. Indiana Injury Lawyer Blog http://www...

The Eight Percent Solution: Terms of the Alleged New Prenup between Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren

Posted on December 05, 2009
Gerry Beyer is covering the developing story about the terms of the alleged new maritial agreement on Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog: "From Tiger's perspective, this is probably a good deal. After all, $80 million is a mere 8%...

Harvard Law School Suspends Popular Tuition Waiver for Public Service Program

Posted on December 04, 2009
Public service and the economy have collided at Harvard. The Harvard Law School has suspended a popular program where it would waive tuition for third year students who agreed to work in nonprofit organizations for five years after graduation. The...

Mass. Governor Says Yes to Public Law School

Posted on December 04, 2009
The Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is formally endorsing the merger of Southern New England School of Law with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The story is here. [MG]

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.