Legal Research

Sunscreen

Posted on May 25, 2010
This coming weekend marks the official beginning of Summer and many of us will hit the beach or spend times outdoors with our barbecues. So this is a reminder that while enjoying the great outdoors, you should use sunscreen. However, sunscreens are not equal and some are clearly more effective than others...

New U.S. Courts Website

Posted on May 23, 2010
The federal judiciary has a new, redesigned website. It is much easier to use than the old U.S. courts website, however you will find that the websites for the individual courts have not changed (although the Supreme Court did recently update its website)...

Update: Texting, Driving, and the Law

Posted on May 22, 2010
As the summer vacation season begins, worldwide interest in officially restricting cell phone use while driving continues. Just this week, the United Nations Secretary-General banned all UN employees from using mobile phones for texting while driving UN vehicles, hoping to take the lead in curbing global deaths from distracted driving...

Time

Posted on May 21, 2010
We are now on our Summer schedule. The Library's hours are listed below and you can find the full listing of our hours here. For Reference Librarians, check out our new calendar . SUMMER PRE-BAR EXAM SCHEDULE - Thursday, May 13 - Monday, July 5 Monday - Thursday 8 a...

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Insects, Up Close And Personal

Posted on May 20, 2010
Summer is approaching, and this means that insect season is approaching, as well. Take a moment to appreciate our six-legged, tri-segmented companions via some striking insect macro photography.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

BBC Languages

Posted on May 19, 2010
Studying abroad this summer or going on vacation? Check out the BBC Languages page. The BBC Languages page offers free 12 week online audio courses in German, Spanish, Italian and French. The courses offer weekly e-mail tips to help you stay motivated and RSS subscriptions for a "word of the day"...

The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers

Posted on May 18, 2010
We've blogged about federal regulations trackers in the past, but it is time to re-visit the subject. The federal government's are improved and there are some free alternatives now available. To get the overview and links, check out The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers on llrx...

Research Resources: Family Law Reporter

Posted on May 17, 2010
Are you looking for a family law resource? The Family Law Reporter provides access to important new federal and state cases, legislation, trends, and issues.The reporter is published weekly on Tuesdays, except the last Tuesday in March, the Tuesday following July 4th, and the last Tuesday in December...

How to Delete (or Almost Delete) Your Facebook Account

Posted on May 16, 2010
iLibrarian has posted links showing how to delete your facebook account, and how to manage your Facebook privacy settings to reveal a minimal amount of information to the public. These are probably good things to think about for students and new graduates (congrats to those who graduated, by the way) who are now looking for legal jobs, especially since Facebook's privacy policy is continually evolving...

Licensed to Practice?--2010 Update

Posted on May 15, 2010
Where do you go when you have to know: Is Lawyer X licensed to practice in State Y? This sometimes elusive information might be available from a state court, bar association, or licensing and disciplinary commission, depending upon the state. But one guide, "A Compilation of State Lawyer Licensing Databases," by Andrew Zimmerman and Trevor Rosen, puts it all together, with licensing authority links, phone numbers, and special notes and advice on attorney directory access for all fifty states...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on May 14, 2010
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL GRADUATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have made it through!! Best of luck to you!! Definitely stop by now and again to visit - either online or in bricks and mortar.Also, WAY TO GO!! to everyone else. You made it through the year...

Beware What You Tweet, If You Visit The UK

Posted on May 13, 2010
Careless use of social media bears its own hazards, both domestically and abroad. See, for instance, this news story, in which a man was convicted of communicating an ostensibly threatening message via Twitter, in violation of UK law.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor

Posted on May 12, 2010
Check out the Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor. Created by the United States Department of Labor, it is a tool that helps businesses determine which federal disability discrimination laws apply. It also provides guidance and information to help businesses understand the requirements under these laws...

CourtListener.com

Posted on May 11, 2010
CourtListener.com The goal of the site is to create a free and competitive real time alert tool for the U.S. judicial system. At present, the site has daily information regarding all precedential opinions issued by the 13 federal circuit courts and the Supreme Court of the United States...

Increase in Link Rot for Law and Policy Related Web Resources

Posted on May 10, 2010
I came across a very interesting post while prowling the Law Librarian Blog. Apparently,the Chesapeake Project Legal Information Archive's Third Annual Study reports that ?link rot? has doubled among the original URLs for law- and policy-related materials published to the Web and archived though the Chesapeake Project ...

Grading Law School Exams

Posted on May 08, 2010
In the midst of exam week stress, have you ever taken a minute to think about your stressed out professors, faced with grading all those exams? For a humorous take on how law professors really grade exams, check out Assault and Flattery 2009, scenes from Louisiana State University Law School's annual comedy show and roast of the third year class, produced by the school's SBA...

One stop shopping

Posted on May 07, 2010
I am going back to an old favorite today. Refdesk.com . You can find a link to just about anything on this page. Need to know gas prices by location - who knew there are about a dozen sites which you can explore. I just learned on this date in 1824 Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiered...

Strange Bedfellows Critique Congressional Lawmaking

Posted on May 06, 2010
According to this Associated Press news story, the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have joined forces to challenge what they feel is the Congress?s excessively loose and vague drafting of criminal laws. Have a look at the story, and tell us what you think...

Index to Legal Abbreviations

Posted on May 05, 2010
Need to decipher a legal abbreviation? Check out the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations. Just type your abbreviation into the "search by abbreviation" box and it will find the name of the publication publication for you.Conversely, if you have the name of a common legal publication, type the name into the "search by title" box and it will find a recognized legal citations for you...

Power strips

Posted on May 04, 2010
Don't let the battery in your laptop rundown. Borrow a power strip from the library. We have 9 power strips behind the Circulation Desk for loan to the students. This is a useful item for groups in the study rooms when there are more laptops than outlets available...

Google Evidence

Posted on May 03, 2010
No, it's not a new web application for court clerks. Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm have an interesting new article on Law.com about a recent 2nd Circuit opinion which states that judges can take judicial notice of information published on the internet...

Added Hours During Exam Period

Posted on May 03, 2010
The Library has added hours on Saturday and Sunday! In response to student requests to offer earlier opening hours on the weekends, the Library will open at 9:00 on Saturday and Sunday through the exam period.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Underutilized tool

Posted on April 30, 2010
As you finish up your papers for the semester, we are getting some questions on finding some background on some interesting topics. Sometimes full text searching for law review articles just pulls up far too many irrelevant articles. If that is the case, or if you have a very current issue, remember to use a legal periodicals index...

Recession Leads Large Law Firms to Examine Regional Growth

Posted on April 29, 2010
This article, which examines factors that are driving law firms? expansion in the current economy, might be of interest to those who are looking strategically at their future employment plans.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Google search tricks

Posted on April 28, 2010
It seems almost all of us use Google on a regular basis, but do we know everything it can do for us? This New York Times article lists 10 simple Google search tricks that can help you save time.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Immigration

Posted on April 27, 2010
Immigration reform and unauthorized immigrants are in the news these days. It is a complex issue and it helps to have information on the scope of the problem. Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security gathers and compiles statistics on who enters the United States...

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)

Posted on April 26, 2010
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) is an agency of the United Nations established to assist Member States with issues concerning illicit drugs and international crime. UNODC?s online legislation legal library provides full text of drug control laws and regulations adopted by countries in support of international drug control treaties...

Don't Write Like This

Posted on April 25, 2010
Lowering the Bar has posted a 538-word order by the U.S. Court of International Trade which was ALL ONE SENTENCE. Law students, do not do this on your upcoming exams.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Magna Carta Visit Extended

Posted on April 24, 2010
Thanks to the Icelandic volcano, a rare 1217 manuscript of the Magna Carta will remain on display at the Morgan Library & Museum in Midtown Manhattan through May 30. As explained by Dave Itzkoff at the New York Times ArtsBeat Blog earlier this week, the document from the Bodleian Library at Oxford University--one of only seventeen surviving manuscripts from the 13th century bearing the royal seal--was scheduled for a much shorter stay...

Politicians and Money

Posted on April 23, 2010
With the discussion of financial reform, these days politics and money are in the news. One interesting web site to further explore that intersection goes by the odd name LittleSis . Funded by the Sunlight Foundation, LittleSis is a free database detailing the connections between powerful people and organizations...

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