Legal Research

Post-Heller Gun Rights Litigation

Posted on August 04, 2008
Following the Supreme Court's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller (No. 07?290), a number of new gun rights lawsuits have been filed to test the Court's landmark decision. Here's a round-up of recent cases from the NRA (via SCOTUSblog):...

Opening: Deputy Assistant Director, LC's CRS, American Law Division

Posted on August 04, 2008
The Congressional Research Service (CRS), American Law Division (ALD), is seeking a Deputy Assistant Director. The Deputy Assistant Director counsels the Assistant Director on all aspects of the administration and operations of the division; monitors research, administration and operations of...

Virtual Law Firms, the Next Big Thing?

Posted on August 04, 2008
The world went on Twitter alert (Pownce and Jaiku too) when Craig Johnson unveiled his new virtual law firm but will this forge a new business model for the legal industry? Johnson hopes to employ hundreds of lawyers working from...

William Patry Shuts Down His Blog

Posted on August 04, 2008
After some 800 postings over the course of about 4 years, the Paltry Copyright Blog is shutting down. Why? Two reasons according to William Patry's post: The Inability or Refusal to Accept the Blog for What it is: A Personal...

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UNLV's Dream of Delivering a World Class Legal Education In Serious Jeopardy

Posted on August 04, 2008
Expected state budget cuts could put UNLV's Boyd School of Law into a free-fall, causing the law school to drop out of national rankings, lose vital community legal aid programs and leave students paying much more for a lot less...

Local Legal Community in Uproar Over "Anti-Gay Marriage" North Dakota Law Review Issue

Posted on August 04, 2008
It's pretty rare that the contents of a law review will make headlines in the local press, but that's what happened in the Grand Forks Herald (North Dakota) newspaper. [link, free registration required] Why? Because the latest issue of the...

The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11

Posted on August 03, 2008
From the Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists): "With enactment of the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2764/P.L. 110-161) on December 26, 2007, Congress has approved a total of about $700 billion for military operations, base security, reconstruction,...

Wayne Ewing's The Border Wall

Posted on August 03, 2008
The Border Wall is a new doucmentary from filmmaker Wayne Ewing about the attempt by the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Michael Chertoff to erect 670 miles of walls along the 2000 mile southern border of the United States...

Brookings Institution Charts Obama and McCain Positions

Posted on August 03, 2008
The Candidate Issue Index, compiled by Brookings Institution experts, outline the candidates' positions on the most critical topics facing America's next President. The topics, listed below, were chosen by Brookings staff and the indices will be published throughout the 2008...

The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio

Posted on August 02, 2008
S. Derek Turner and Mark Lloyd's The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio (Free Press, Center for American Progress) is now available from the Policy Archive (free). Here's the abstract: This report documents in detail the fact that conservative talk...

Harrison Follows Up Culture Matters with The Central Liberal Truth

Posted on August 02, 2008
"I can think of no better entrance to the topic, both for what it teaches and the way it invites and prepares the reader to continue. A gateway study." -- David S. Landes, author of The Wealth and Poverty of...

Congress Goes on Summer Vacation, Travel Plans to Wally World Canceled

Posted on August 02, 2008
Congress adjourned Friday for its five-week summer recess. Nice job if you can get it. Did your elected officials do enough? According to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll, 77 percent of the country disapprove of how Congress is doing...

Friday Fun: Our Very Own Dark Knight, the Dark Librarian

Posted on August 01, 2008
The Dark Librarian avenges abused library staff and patrons by exacting punishment on unruly library customers. Makes me want to ask, "where did he get those toys?" [JH]

Quinnipiac University Polling Institute Survey of SCOTUS and Hot Button Social Issues

Posted on August 01, 2008
Finding from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey include the following: Supreme Court American voters narrowly disapprove 43 - 39 percent of the job the Supreme Court is doing, the lowest rating in five years of Quinnipiac University surveys on...

Kudos to Michael Slinger

Posted on August 01, 2008
Michael Slinger has joined the Widener University School of Law as associate dean for information services and technology, director of the Legal Information Center and professor of law. Mike previously served as associate dean, director of the law library and...

A Teachable Moment: Avoiding the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior in Legal Research

Posted on August 01, 2008
"Sway helped me recognize an aspect of irrational behavior in my experimental work in physics. Sometimes I have jumped into some research that didn't feel quite right . . . but some irrational lure, such as the hope of quick...

Leveling the Playing Field for Minority Head Coaches in the NFL

Posted on August 01, 2008
The NFL preseason is about to start so for football fans, so here's a very interesting article on the legal history of the discriminatory practices that keep minorities from becomeing head coaches in the League: N. Jeremi Duru (Temple), The...

Opening: Collection Development Coordinator/Research Librarian, University of St. Thomas School of Law Library

Posted on August 01, 2008
The University of St. Thomas, School of Law seeks applications for a Collection Development Coordinator/Research Librarian. This position plays a critical role in law library collection development and the education of users about library resources. The Collection Development Coordinator/Research Librarian...

Gerry Spence: "Most trial lawyers have been defrauded of their [legal] education"

Posted on August 01, 2008
Gerry Spence joined the blogosphere on July 19. It didn't take him long to criticize the quality of legal education. On July 28th, he posted "Is it not a miracle that after having been defrauded of their education at the...

Tips for the LinkedIn and Twittering Lawyer (and Librarian)

Posted on August 01, 2008
New Law Librarian LinkedIn Group Launched for subscribers to the Law-Lib listserv. Join here. The LinkedIn Lawyer blog is devoted to answering lawyers' questions about LinkedIn. It is written by Boston attorney David A. Barrett, "the world's most lawyer-linked attorney...

A school with no 1L's

Posted on August 01, 2008
In news of the story that just will not go away, American Justice School of Law Barkley School of Law in Paducah, KY, who in the past has had financial issues in about any way one can think of, will...

Professional Reading: Copyright Renewal, Copyright Restoration, and the Difficulty of Determining Copyright Status

Posted on July 31, 2008
Peter B. Hirtle's article, Copyright Renewal, Copyright Restoration, and the Difficulty of Determining Copyright Status, has been published in the July/August 2008 issue of D-Lib. Here's the abstract: It has long been assumed that most of the works published from...

NLRB Launches Pilot Project for Electronic Issuance and Service of Final Board and ALJ Decisions

Posted on July 31, 2008
The NLRB's E-Issuance/E-Service procedure will allow parties to obtain decisions immediately upon issuance via email alerts. Too bad that a RSS feed subscription option is not being implemented. From the Board's press release: Under the pilot project, final Board and...

Just Released, Introduction to Information Retrieval

Posted on July 31, 2008
Companion Website The book's companion website includes html and pdf versions of the book plus links to IR books, courses, conferences and other resources. [JH] "This is the first book that gives you a complete picture of the complications that...

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Posted on July 31, 2008
Reviews published in the June 30th, 2008 issue of InSITE: Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy FRASER: Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research Humanitarian Policy Group International Seabed Authority Special Court for Sierra Leone [RJ]

Opening: Cornell Law Library Research Attorney

Posted on July 31, 2008
Cornell Law Library has a newly created position of a Research Attorney. The full job description is attached. The Research Attorney will be involved in reference and research, teaching research courses in the law school, serving as one of several...

Law Librarian Career Profiles: Mary Dryden and Patty Wellinger

Posted on July 31, 2008
Law firm librarian Mary Dryden (Bingham McCutchen) and academic law librarian Patty Wellinger (Denver) discuss their careers on LawCrossing: Law Librarian and Actor: Mary Dryden Want a Career as a Law Librarian? Patty Wellinger Touts the Rewards [JH]

Is POTUS Too Busy To Be Spending the Day Deleting Spam or Closing Pop-Ups in a Browser?

Posted on July 31, 2008
Is it important for the President to use the Internet regularly? See the WSJ article, Note to Next President: Avoid Computers, and cast your vote in the Journal's poll. [JH]

China Breaks Pledge to Provide Unfiltered Web Access to Foreign Journalists

Posted on July 31, 2008
Reporters Without Borders has issued a guide on how to use proxy servers to circumvent China's Internet censorship during the Beijing Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledged that the Chinese government was blocking foreign journalists access to Internet...

Professional Reading: Should Law School Students Pay for Something That Does Not Benefit Them, Namely Faculty Research?

Posted on July 30, 2008
Edward Rubin (Vanderbilt) has posted Should Law Schools Support Faculty Research? in SSRN. Here's the abstract: Law schools are predominantly financed by student tuition payments, yet a significant proportion of their expenditures do not directly benefit the students, but rather...

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