Legal Research

To Twitter Or Not To Twitter

Posted on February 10, 2009
Interesting webcast on Legal Talk Network discussing the pros and cons of Twitter. Hosted by J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi, the panel discusses whether this micro-blogging service is a "phenomenon or a necessity for lawyers and law firms". [RJ]

Secretary Geithner Introduces Financial Stability Plan

Posted on February 10, 2009
Secretary Geithner outlines the Treasury's Department's plan for creating stability in the financial markets. [RJ]

Valentine's Day Gift?

Posted on February 10, 2009
In today's edition of the USAToday there is a review of the new Kindle 2 by Edward Baig. For those that may have missed the Kindle discussion Kindle is an electronic book of sorts that is made available by Amazon....

Gaming Law School US News Rankings: A Sociological Perspective

Posted on February 10, 2009
In The Discipline of Rankings: Tight Coupling and Organizational Change, sociology professors Michael Sauder (Iowa) and Wendy Nelson Espeland (Northwestern) contend that law schools' gaming US News rankings end up perpetuating a system they dislike. Here's the abstract:This article demonstrates...

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2009 Financial Services Fact Book

Posted on February 10, 2009
Financial Services Fact Book, provides insight into the trends and statistics shaping the financial services industry. This role is especially "pivotal in light of recent turmoil in the credit and mortgage markets". The 2009 edition includes a variety of new...

Secunda on Public Employee Blogging and the First Amendment

Posted on February 10, 2009
Paul M. Secunda (Marquette and former Workplace Prof Blog editor) has posted Blogging While (Publicly) Employed: Some First Amendment Implications to SSRN. In it, Secunda examines the predicament of private-sector employees who choose to blog about their workplaces and lays...

Plain English Forms from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has put together 56 new, "plain English" forms, both civil and criminal. You can find them among 126 forms listed here. Hat tip to Civil Procedure Prof Blog, [JH]

December Issue of AALL Washington Blawg E-Bulletin Now Available

Posted on February 09, 2009
From the Table of Contents for the January Edition: Nominations Open for Two AALL Government Relations Committee Awards AALL Travel Grants Available for the 2009 Annual Meeting President Obama Demonstrates Commitment to Open Government House Passes Legislation to Restore Transparency...

Plea Agreements to Go Online

Posted on February 09, 2009
Plea agreements for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida will be made available online through PACER as of February 20, pursuant to a January 22 order by Chief Judge Federico Moreno, reports Julie Kay of the...

Professional Reading: Facebook and the Social Dynamics of Privacy

Posted on February 09, 2009
James Grimmelmann (New York Law School) has posted in SSRN an excellent article on privacy issues and social networks entitled Facebook and the Social Dynamics of Privacy. From the abstract:"This Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of the law and...

Legal Scholarly Repositories

Posted on February 09, 2009
A list of legal scholarly repositories (institutional repositories and non-institutional) is now available here. The site, which lists only stand-alone repositories of legal materials, is intended for use by researchers studying legal information systems and by librarians building digital libraries...

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Posted on February 09, 2009
Reviews published in the January 12, 2009 issue of InSITE: Defence for Children International English Reports Personal Democracy Forum WikiPatents: Community Patent Review [RJ] Defence for Children InternationalEstablished in 1979, Defence for Children International (DCI) is a nonprofit international organization...

Opening: Reference Librarian, University of Michigan Law Library

Posted on February 09, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW LIBRARY seeks a dual-degree law librarian to serve as a Reference Librarian.J.D. and M.L.S. from accredited US schools required. Experience working as a Reference Librarian in an academic law library is desired but not required...

New York City Stinks

Posted on February 08, 2009
Since 2005, New Yorkers have occasionally experienced the smell of maple syrup wafting over their neighborhood. The cause, fenugreek seeds being processed by a food-manufacturing company in New Jersey. Story on NPR. [JH]

The Tuition Bubble

Posted on February 07, 2009
After years and years and years of tuition increases, can students and parent still afford a college education? Check out Squeeze Play 2009, The Public?s Views on College Costs Today. [JH]

Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized

Posted on February 06, 2009
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery Thursday for removal of a cancerous tumor from her pancreas. NPR's Nina Totenberg is reporting that Justice Ginsburg has told friends she intends to be back on the bench when the court...

New SSRN eJournal for Law Librarians

Posted on February 06, 2009
Reprinted with permission: We are delighted to present the Legal Information & Technology eJournal to the law library community. The archive already includes over 150 papers and is growing daily. Subscribers will soon start receiving email issues announcing works in...

Friday Fun: Library Desk Potatoes, It's Time for the Betty Glover Library Workout Tape Ad

Posted on February 06, 2009

Legal Information in the Law Clinic

Posted on February 06, 2009
Dr. Yolanda P. Jones, Assistant Director of Electronic Information Services at Villanova University School of Law, has published her doctoral dissertation, "Just the Facts Ma'am?" A Contextual Approach to the Legal Information Use Environment (2008). Here's the abstract:The purpose of...

Second Edition of Tools for Teaching Now Available

Posted on February 06, 2009
The second edition of Barbara Gross Davis' bestselling book Tools for Teaching (Jossey-Bass, 2009) has just been published. It is a practical, accessible reference manual for faculty in just about any discipline. This new edition contains up-to-date information on technology...

Editor of Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction Reflects on Work's History

Posted on February 06, 2009
The current editor of Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction, Greg Bell, rights a brief post about the history of this standard work on WestBlog. [JH]

ALA Provides Advocacy Toolkit

Posted on February 06, 2009
The Advocating in a Tough Economy Toolkit offers resources and tools, including news clips, op-eds, and statistics to help library supporters make the case for libraries in these times. [JH]

Thomas Jefferson School of Law hits Mammoth Jackpot, Literally

Posted on February 05, 2009
From the AP:Workers digging at a downtown San Diego construction site have uncovered the prehistoric remains of an 8-foot-long mammoth. A backhoe operator working at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law site unearthed a 20-foot-long tusk Wednesday.TJSL has the cool...

Kudos to Virginia Thomas

Posted on February 05, 2009
On February 1, 2009, the Wayne State University Library System welcomed Virginia C. Thomas as the new director of the Arthur Neef Law Library. Thomas joins the Library System with over 30 years of experience working in law libraries, most...

Another Obama nominee makes news

Posted on February 05, 2009
I mention this here because of the direct connection Law Libraries. Obama Nominee for Deputy Attorney General, David Ogden, has a revealing past of representing some interesting plaintiffs. Ogden is best known in popular circles for being the a leading...

Finally some Good News for Potter Fans

Posted on February 05, 2009
It's almost Friday, right? Good enough. You might remember our coverage of the Harry Potter Lexicon case last year. Happily for fans, it appears to have come to a peaceful resolution. The lexicon, with substantial interpretive additions not found on....

Academic Law Librarians: Be a CALI Legal Research Author!

Posted on February 05, 2009
There are LOTS of benefits of being a CALI Legal Researcher Author .... 1. Help your students: A majority of students would rather do a CALI lesson than read a legal research textbook. See Elizabeth G. Adelman, CALI Lessons in...

Failure to Research Legal Issue Negates Showing of Good Faith Under Family and Medical Leave Act

Posted on February 05, 2009
Is a pregnant employee covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act? Had an in-house lawyer researched the issue before the pregnant employee was fired, Senior U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro would not have doubled a jury verdict and awarded...

How We Were Ruined: On the Financial Industry Meltdown and How Lawyers Enabled It

Posted on February 05, 2009
In the New York Review of Books, Jeff Madrick provides an excellent analysis and commentary of the current financial crisis using Charles Morris' The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash, Mark Zandi's Financial Shock:...

Does Grammar Matter for Lawyers, Judges and Law Students?

Posted on February 05, 2009
Does it matter that the editors of thirty-three law journals, including those at Yale and Michigan, think that there is a ?passive tense?? Does it matter that the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits think...

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