Legal Research

AALL CS-SIS Web 2.0 course has begun...

Posted on July 22, 2008
The CS-SIS has begun their five week online course in Web 2.0 geared to law librarians. The course is full for registered participants, but the course materials may be accessed through the guest login by anyone who is interested. (You...

Why Librarianship?

Posted on July 22, 2008
Why did you choose librarianship? The good folks at LISNews would like audio submissions for a forthcoming podcast. Details and instructions on how to participate at this LISNews blog post. [JH]

Third Circuit Tosses FCC's "Wardrobe Malfunction" Fine

Posted on July 22, 2008
Remember the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake "wardrobe malfunction" during their Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time performance? The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has just tossed the FCC's $550,000 fine of CBS, ruling that the FCC ?acted arbitrarily and capriciously? in issuing the...

Big Screen Kindle Aiming for $5.5 Billion Textbook Market

Posted on July 21, 2008
Sometime ago I wrote, "while the Kindle buzz has stimulated interest in the legal academy, the development model will not follow along the lines of Kindle" because the digital text-study aid functionality law schools students want is not gizmo-dependent and...

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

Professional Reading: The Taxonomy of Interdisciplinary Legal Research

Posted on July 21, 2008
Mathias Siems (Edinburgh School of Law and Cambridge Centre for Business Research) recently posted The Taxonomy of Interdisciplinary Legal Research: Finding the Way Out of the Desert in SSRN. Here's the abstract: This article identifies four different types of interdisciplinary...

Flavors of Legal Journalism: Roman Polanski Statutory Rape and Paxil Consumer Fraud Cases

Posted on July 21, 2008
Advocacy, Gonzo, Investigative, Watchdog, or Yellow Journalism? Roman Polanski Rape Case. The HBO documentary film Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired was an eye-opening experience when I viewed it on cable TV recently. Remember the case? On March 11, 1977, Polanski...

NACTT Launches Consumer Bankruptcy Website

Posted on July 21, 2008
The National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees (NACTT) recently launched ConsiderChapter13.org. Produced by NACITT's Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, ConsiderChapter13.org is designed to raise awareness of Chapter 13 and provide resources for legal professionals, financial advisors and consumers...

Concordia Moves Forward with Boise Law School

Posted on July 21, 2008
Concordia University has announced that it intends to open its new law school in Boise, Idaho with classes scheduled to begin in Fall, 2009. The University has opened its dean search [announcement]. [JH]

Barbie Kicks Bratz Dolls' Butt in First Round of IP Litigation

Posted on July 21, 2008
Mattel has triumphed in a copyright case against the maker of the popular Bratz dolls, MGA Entertainment. See Mattel's press release. MGA Entertainment plans to file an appeal. [MGA Entertainment press release]. Hat tip to BBC News. [JH]

Just Released, Mayer's The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals

Posted on July 20, 2008
Tracing Torture Scandals Into the Upper Ranks of the Bush Administration. How did the Bush Administration authorize extreme interrogation techniques? Madeleine Brand speaks with Jane Mayer about her book The Dark Side in the first interview of a three part...

U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

Posted on July 20, 2008
New report from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: "The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life today released its second report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which finds that while many Americans are highly religious, most...

The World?s Lost Environmental Causes

Posted on July 19, 2008
A few of what were once considered imminent environmental catastrophes now seem like memories from a bygone era. Whether the problem is solved, the public loses interest, or there was never really much to fear, environmental causes can sometimes simply...

UNDP's North Korea Report

Posted on July 19, 2008
From the U.S. Department of State: "The External Independent Investigative Review Panel delivered its final Report on the United Nations Development Program?s activities in North Korea. The panel, appointed by the UNDP Administrator, found broad management deficiencies in UNDP?s North...

Has Student Achievement Improved Since 2002? State Test Score Trends Through 2006?07

Posted on July 19, 2008
New report from the Center on Education Policy: "Using testing data from all 50 states, this study addresses two key questions: has student achievement increased and have achievement gaps narrowed since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in...

Friday Fun: This Attorney's Practice May Be Too Specialized

Posted on July 18, 2008
A parody of late night Cable TV ads: "Arnie Ping "is a certified, yet extremely limited attorney at law. [JH]

Does Paul McCartney Need More Money?

Posted on July 18, 2008
The European Commission has proposed a plan to retroactively extend the copyright terms on musical recordings for another 45 years to a total of 95 years. From the Commission's statement: The aim of the proposal is to bring performers' protection...

CFR Task Force Report Calls for Overhaul of U.S. Climate Change Strategy

Posted on July 18, 2008
The Council on Foreign Felations Task Force's report, Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy (June 2008), recommends ambitious emissions cuts, negotiating a Post-Kyoto deal, reducing biofuel tariffs and phasing out domestic subsidies for mature biofuels such as...

A Quick Look at Our Courts

Posted on July 18, 2008
From the Our Courts mission statement: The "Our Courts" Project was created to help those seeking to address the evident crisis in civics education. In doing so, we hope to pioneer a new pedagogic approach designed to respond to the...

100 Reference Web Sites

Posted on July 18, 2008
Laura Milligan has compiled a list of 100 "unbelievably useful reference sites you?ve never heard of" for "teachers, students, hypochondriacs, procrastinators, bookworms, sports nuts" ... you get the idea. The directory is organized under the following headings and does include...

ISOO 2007 Annual Report to the President

Posted on July 18, 2008
New report from the Information Security Oversight Office (NARA): "The ISOO 2007 Annual Report to the President is now available online. The Report profiles data about the government-wide security classification program during Fiscal Year 2007." [RJ]

Netroots Nation Conference Is Underway

Posted on July 18, 2008
Former the Yearly Kos meeting, the Netroots Nation conference of online activists is underway in Austin. Resources: Netroots Nation Website | Agenda | Live Streams [JH]

Law Professor Blogs Network Launches Two New Blogs

Posted on July 17, 2008
Check out the Law Professor Blogs Network's two new blogs: Career & Professional Development Blog edited by Susan Gainer (Minnesota) and Mina Jones Jefferson (Cincinnati) and International Law Prof Blog edited by Mark Wojcik (John Marshall Law School, Chicago), Cindy...

Rasmussen Reports' Internet Harassment Survey

Posted on July 17, 2008
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports national survey, 49% of Americans think the federal government should regulate the Internet the same way it does radio and television. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree, and 16% are undecided. The survey also found that...

Power as a Factor in Lawyers' Ethical Deliberations

Posted on July 17, 2008
Susan Carle (American University Washington College of Law) proposes a normative standard for how relative client power should be taken into consideration in lawyers' ethical deliberations in Power as a Factor in Lawyers' Ethical Deliberation (SSRN) From the abstract: A...

Do Female Law Profs Blog?

Posted on July 17, 2008
Bennett Capers (Hofsta) asked the question on PrawfsBlawg recently. For the 53 blogs published by the Law Professor Blogs Network, 30% (30/100) of the editors are female law professors. If we added female law school administrators editing blogs for the...

Selected Bibliographies for Directed Reading

Posted on July 17, 2008
Patrick S. O?Donnell (Department of Philosophy, Santa Barbara City College) has been publishing unannotated topical bibliographies of monographs in a series of directed reading posts on Ratio Juris (all downloadable in MS Word file format). Here's the download links: Bioethics:...

Amazon Video on Demand Launched Today

Posted on July 17, 2008
Amazon Video on Demand will be accessible to a limited number of invited Amazon.com customers today before it opens to the general public later this summer according to this New York Times story. Unlike other Internet video stores, like Apple...

Professional Reading: The Impacts of Free Public Internet Access on Public Library Patrons and Communities

Posted on July 16, 2008
The Impacts of Free Public Internet Access on Public Library Patrons and Communities by John Carlo Bertot, Charles R. McClure and Paul T. Jaeger has been published in the July 2008 issue of The Library Quarterly. Here's the abstract: Public...

Readex's Archive of Americana Crossroads Feature

Posted on July 16, 2008
Crossroads gives scholars a single way to interact with any page or article Readex's "Archive of Americana" online research database, and gives them credit for their annotations and comments, or links to other items or comments, all of which is...

Baby Boomers Closing the Digital Divide

Posted on July 16, 2008
A new study released by The Center For The Digital Future and AARP shows older (50+) Internet users are rapidly closing the digital divide. The following are some of the key findings AARP identified in its press release: The Internet...

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