Legal Research

A Quick Look at U.S. Courts Reference and Directory

Posted on January 07, 2008
U.S. Courts Reference and Directory provides an overview of trial court systems in every state and county in the United States. This site offers information about the trial court system in each state, including an overview of the types of...

LLRX.com for December 2007

Posted on January 07, 2008
From www.llrx.com: Mis-Information at the Heart of the University: Why Administrators Should Take Libraries More Seriously http://www.llrx.com/features/librariesmoreseriously.htm Carpe Diem: Establish an Institutional Repository for Your Organization http://www...

First IT Book Recommendation for 2008: Carr's The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

Posted on January 07, 2008
Nicholar Carr is the author of the widely read article "IT Doesn't Matter" which was published in the May 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review. See also Carr's Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage (Harvard...

The Professor's Little Helper or Flowers for Algernon

Posted on January 07, 2008
In a commentary published in Nature (online forum on the topic), Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir of the University of Cambridge revealed an informal survey showing that a handful of colleagues, all involved in studying drugs that help people perform...

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

Illinois Supreme Court Will Post Oral Arguments on the Web

Posted on January 07, 2008
From the press release: The Illinois Supreme Court ... will begin publishing video and audio recordings of oral arguments on its website, beginning with the January 2008 Supreme Court term. The arguments are anticipated to be available on the website...

Council of Europe: Trafficking in Human Beings: Internet Recruitment

Posted on January 06, 2008
New study from the Council of Europe: "The rapid development in the use of information technologies, in particular the Internet, has given a new dimension to trafficking in human beings. The risks for young people to fall into the traffickers?net...

Reporters Without Borders Issues Press Freedom Round-up 2007

Posted on January 06, 2008
From Press Freedom Round-up 2007: 86 journalists killed in 2007 - up 244% over five years 6 journalists and 20 media assistants were killed 887 arrested 1,511 physically attacked or threatened 67 journalists kidnapped 528 media outlets censored More than...

Top Military Blogger Killed in Iraq; Read Major Olmsted's Last Posts

Posted on January 05, 2008
Fort Carson-based Army Major Andrew Olmsted was considered by many to be one of the top military bloggers in Iraq. He was killed in an ambush there on January 3rd, the first casualty for 2008 in Iraq. Rocky Mountain News...

Chinese Communist Party Keeping Mao Zedong's Book Royalties

Posted on January 05, 2008
The Literary World of Party History estimated in 2001 that Mao Zedong's estate was worth about $17.6M from his Little Red Book and other publication royalties. According to the BBC, the Chinese Communist Party is refusing to give the money...

Comparing Presidential Candidates

Posted on January 05, 2008
Nice resource from One Vote 08 comparing statements from the Presidential Candidates: "Tens of thousands of ONE members asked the candidates to go "On The Record" with their plans to combat extreme poverty and global disease. "On the Record" is...

CRS Report: Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism

Posted on January 05, 2008
Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress, Updated November 15, 2007: "Cybercrime is becoming more organized and established as a transnational business. High technology online skills are now available for rent to a variety of customers, possibly...

The Best Top 10 Lists of the Year, 2007

Posted on January 05, 2008
From Time Magazine. Check it out! [RJ]

Friday Fun: Play Library Science Jeopardy

Posted on January 04, 2008
Just like the popular television version, the primary rule is to provide your answer in the form of a question. There are six categories to select from, each containing five answers in ascending order of difficulty. Click on any of...

Revised and Expanded Edition Now Online: Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know

Posted on January 04, 2008
The full text of the revised and updated edition of Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know is now available on the website of the Crimes of War Project. The book is an A-Z guide to the laws of...

President Bush Signs FOIA Reform Bill (S. 2488)

Posted on January 04, 2008
The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act, S. 2488, was signed into law on Monday, December 31, 2007. See our earlier post, Thomas Resources and White House Press Release. [JH]

Google Toolbar for IE Adds Accessible Features

Posted on January 04, 2008
Google Toolbar for IE recently launched version 5 which adds support for Windows Accessibility APIs (used by screen readers, etc.) and enables keyboard navigation and access. According to the Official Google Blog, "From inside a browser with Toolbar installed, the...

Ringing in the New Year with New Laws

Posted on January 04, 2008
From the National Conference of State Legislatures: "A host of new laws on topics ranging from allowing civil unions in New Hampshire to prohibiting text messaging while driving in Washington state become effective Jan. 1, 2008. The National Conference of...

The Mitchell Report in a Free Searchable Database

Posted on January 04, 2008
Another great resource from askSam: "A free, searchable database of The Mitchell Report has been released by askSam Systems. The askSam database contains a full-text searchable archive of George J. Mitchell's report to the commissioner of baseball on the investigation...

Results from The ABA Journal Blawg 100 Poll

Posted on January 03, 2008
Voting ended yesterday. Here's the unofficial results: Category Most Popular Blog Generally Speaking QuizLaw All Business What About Clients? Politics for Sport InstaPundit Ivory Tower The Volokh Conspiracy Black Letter Law China Law Blog Lawyer's Toolkit Legal Process Outsourcing Your...

Law Librarians Love Anonymity?

Posted on January 03, 2008
G. Edward White recently published "Law Librarians" in the Green Bag (11 Green Bag 2d 81 (2007)). An interesting historical perspective on changes in the academic side of the profession, also comparing changes in the profession of law professorship. Recommended...

First Legal Research Book Recommendation for 2008: International and Foreign Legal Research

Posted on January 03, 2008
Marci Hoffman (Associate Director, International & Foreign Law Librarian, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Library) and Mary Rumsey (Foreign, Comparative & International Law Librarian, University of Minnesota Law School Library) support their new work, International and Foreign Legal...

Should Precedential Rulings Be Designated Per Curiam?

Posted on January 03, 2008
In Per Curiam Opinions: What's the Point?, Howard J. Bashman criticizes the practice of precedential rulings that are designated as per curiam. Hat tip to Adjunct Law Prof Blog. [JH]

Online Video at Risk of Private Censorship

Posted on January 03, 2008
In Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video, American University Professors Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi finds that many online videos creatively use copyrighted materials in ways that are eligible for fair use consideration under copyright law; In...

PRO IP Bill, H.R. 4279, Boosts Penalties, Creates New Agency

Posted on January 03, 2008
Interesting article from CNet.com: "In the aftermath of the $222,000 jury verdict that the Recording Industry Association of America recently won against a Minnesota woman who shared 24 songs on Kazaa, the U.S. Congress is preparing to amend copyright law...

The Complete Lawyer on Law School Reform

Posted on January 03, 2008
"In the history of legal education in the United States, there is no record of any concerted effort to consider what new lawyers should know or be able to do on their first day in practice or to design a...

Two Academic Website Studies by Primary Research Group

Posted on January 03, 2008
The Primary Research Group has published Academic Library Website Benchmarks and The Survey of College Website Management Practices. Details excerpted from the press release. [JH] Academic Library Website Benchmarks 85.00; a PDF version, for $92.50 (ISBN #:1-57440-094-0)...

The Best of CourtTV

Posted on January 02, 2008
CourtTV, launched in 1991, has been re-branded as TruTV. TruTV programing will still include live trial coverage and law enforcement/investigation-related shows, however, the network is branching out into non law enforcement related "real life reality television...

First Professional Reading Recommendation of 2008: Living Legal Scholarship

Posted on January 02, 2008
Maksymilian Del Mar, University of Edinburgh research student, has deposited Living Legal Scholarship in SSRN. Here's the abstract: This paper offers a personal reflection on the value of legal scholarship. It is set in the context of the contemporary literature...

Rejali's Torture and Democracy

Posted on January 02, 2008
Meticulously researched and filled with surprising insights, Rejali's indictment derives its power from thoughtful analysis and deep historical grounding. It is the best book on the subject that I have encountered. No one should debate the merits of torture without...

The 2007 Blawggies: Dennis Kennedy's Best Law-related Blogging Awards

Posted on January 02, 2008
Once again Dennis Kennedy has recognized the importance of law librarian blogs with the 2007 Blawggie Award in "Best Legal Blog Category" (tied with Non-US Legal Blogs and Solo Lawyer Blogs). Dennis writes: I have to be one of the...

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