Legal Research

Library Hours for August 17-19, 2009

Posted on August 14, 2009
The Law Library will be open 8:00 am – 8:00 pm on Monday, August 17th and Tuesday, August 18th. Regular hours will resume on Wednesday, August 19th. Regular hours are: Sunday 1:00 pm – 11:00 pm Monday-Wednesday 7:00 am -11:00 pm Thursday 7:00 am – 10:00 pm Friday 7:00 am – 9:00 pm Saturday 9:00 am – 9:00 pm (KT)

FREE Internet Resources

Posted on August 12, 2009
Have you ever read a word (especially a medical term) and wondered how to pronounce it? Most of you have probably seen Merriam Webster?s web site which is not only a dictionary and thesaurus but will also allow you to hear the pronunciation. And don?t forget The Free Dictionary that will pronounce some legal terms...

What?s going on in my 1L classes?

Posted on August 11, 2009
Brand new law students may be confused and frustrated by their professors’ methods of instruction.  A recent blog post by a torts professor sets out to reveal the underlying reasons for their pedagogical choices.  I summarize below. ***** What will you be asked to learn in the next three years, and in this class in particular? 1...

Dreadlocks Are In?At Least for Now

Posted on August 07, 2009
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week in Smith v. Ozmint that the forced grooming of a Rastafarian man’s dreadlocks by South Carolina correctional officers violated his rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA)...

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Senate Confirms Sotomayor

Posted on August 07, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed yesterday by a vote of 68-31 to serve as the third woman and the first Hispanic Justice of the United States Supreme Court. She will be sworn in tomorrow. Read more about it and much more on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) blog...

Historical Newspapers

Posted on August 07, 2009
Do you need to find something from an older American Newspaper, well check out Chronicling America from the Library of Congress http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/. Currently there is little content, but it is growing quickly and will soon provide access to newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from each of the 50 US states and the US territories...

Quick Rules for the Reference Desk

Posted on August 05, 2009
As we prepare for another batch of new 1Ls ? I wanted to share a quick video created by Mary Rumsey. ?My Rules for Using Law Library Reference? is good advice for everyone who plans to ask ?a quick question? at the Reference Desk. Hat tip to the Law Librarian Blog! (Steph)

South Carolina Access to Justice Website

Posted on July 31, 2009
South Carolina Access to Justice recently launched its new website at www.scatj.org. The S.C. Access to Justice Commission was formed in 2007 to address the need to expand access to civil legal representation for people of low income and modest means in South Carolina...

Decrypting Findlaw?s Interface Makeover

Posted on July 31, 2009
Findlaw has long been a useful portal to free legal resources on the Web, and its US Supreme Court archive is one of its best features. It was purchased a few years ago by Thomson Reuters and, while access remains free, the interface grows evermore Westian, which means that the summer generally brings [...

Bing!

Posted on July 30, 2009
Microsoft and Yahoo have teamed up to challenge the search engine giant Google.  Their  recently unveiled search engine, Bing, hopes to chip away at Google’s dominant market share.  I have to admit that Bing’s home page is prettier than Google’s, but is that enough?  I did a very simple comparison test and here are my [...

Incoming 2009-2010 Law Students: Get a Head-Start

Posted on July 29, 2009
LexisNexis has created a web site called ?Get a Head-Start on Law School? for NEW students. Most law schools require incoming students to attend an Orientation program, hoping to reduce the culture shock of attending law school. After reviewing this site, incoming law students will actually understand the vast amounts of information thrown at them [...

Wesite of the Week

Posted on July 27, 2009
Tom Mighell has always been active in providing internet web site, information, and blogs. He has now started Tom Mighell Linkstream, http://linkstream.inter-alia.net/  a collection of links on legal technology, e-Discovery, social media, and the Internet...

Where Have All the Law Librarians Gone?

Posted on July 24, 2009
If the law librarians seem a little scarce next week, it?s because several of us have gone to Washington D.C. for the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting and Conference. We go every July to a different location to learn about current issues in law librarianship and new and improved legal resources and [...

Prior Versions of the SC Code of Laws at SC Statehouse Website

Posted on July 23, 2009
The Website of the South Carolina General Assembly (www.scstatehouse.gov) offers free online access to prior versions of the site’s online SC Code from 2007 back to 2000. To access, go to the site, click the link to “Archives,” then choose the link to “Code of Laws, South Carolina – Previous Versions...

Resources for Unemployed Lawyers and New Graduates

Posted on July 22, 2009
Due to the current economic situation, West has created a new website called Between Cases. This site will assist attorneys who have delayed start dates for their upcoming employment or attorneys that have currently found themselves unemployed. The site contains free research resources, legal news updates, information on starting a private practice and legal job [...

Legal Tweets!

Posted on July 21, 2009
If you are  registered with Twitter, the following two websites list a number of law related feeds that you might want to sign up for.  The first site – http://scoop.jdsupra.com/2008/10/articles/another-category/legal-news-feeds-on-twitter/ – lists Twitter accounts that automatically stream links to articles, alerts, and news on legal subjects...

West Headnote of the Day

Posted on July 17, 2009
We librarians continuously talk about topics and key numbers as they relate to finding cases by subject using the West Key Number System®. Students, however, seem to have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept; particularly when Westlaw adds the number assigned to the topic at the beginning of the topic and key [...

New Westlaw Account Manager

Posted on July 17, 2009
We are saddened to bid farewell to our excellent Westlaw account manager, Kim Wolenberg,who has taken a different position with the company. Our new account manager is Hollye Clark. We hope to meet Hollye in person in the near future, but if you need her help you can contact her at hollye...

New Look for Westlaw

Posted on July 17, 2009
It’s that time of year again: the Summer of R&D. All of our online sites are doing the usual maintenance and enhancement. So far, Westlaw is showing the greatest effect; the interface has changed radically in appearance. Not to worry, though; the differences are cosmetic only...

Sotomayor: Her Record Speaks Volumes

Posted on July 15, 2009
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has compiled a comparative study of Judge Sotomayor?s opinions. After reviewing more than 1,000 rulings, the empirical study found Sotomayor to be ?squarely within the mainstream of the Second Circuit...

Searching for people in Westlaw

Posted on July 13, 2009
Westlaw can provide a great deal of useful information about individual lawyers and judges and even law firms.  There are a couple of ways to make these searches more effective.  Take a look at the fields that are available in the particular database...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Posted on July 13, 2009
Hearings began yesterday on Judge Sotomayor?s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. If you would like to read and listen along as the hearings progress, NPR?s website has commentary and audio. If you would like to find more web resources on Judge Sotomayor , peruse articles she has written, or read cases she has decided, [...

Appellate Blogs

Posted on July 12, 2009
Staying current is essential for all law students and lawyers. Here are two very good appellate Blawgs (Blogs). First, the South Carolina Appellate Law Blog, http://southcarolinaappellatelaw.blogspot.com. This is an excellent blog that gives you new South Carolina and 4th circuit cases in appellate law...

Studying for the SC Bar?

Posted on July 10, 2009
Graduates studying for the bar who wish to familiarize themselves with the latest South Carolina case law may find the following resources helpful: The South Carolina Lawyer magazine includes summaries of recent developments in the law by topic. It is published bimonthly...

Using E-books in the USC System

Posted on July 10, 2009
If you run across an e-book in the online catalog and hit a wall when trying to use the link in the catalog record, don’t despair. If the book is offered through NetLIbrary, there’s a work-around. Go to the “Electronic Index” link on the library’s homepage...

Easy Access to Government Happenings

Posted on July 08, 2009
Have you seen the White House Blog? The White House Briefing Room has created a Blog to ?expand and deepen? online engagement and keep the public current on government information. The Blog covers current events for the President, Vice-President and various Administrative Agencies...

The Mark of Zotero

Posted on July 07, 2009
The biggest problem with doing research on the web is the evanescence of web content.  Zotero [http://www.zotero.org/] is freeware that works with Firefox [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/upgrade.html] to capture web pages, preserving the content as it was when you found it...

Two Good Research Websites

Posted on July 06, 2009
Here are a couple of  good research websites to find  articles and  useable copyrighted  material. ByArticles Search (http://www.byarticles.com) ByArticles has several top articles websites include FindArticles.com, GoArticles.com and ArticleCity.com...

Historical SC Newspaper Articles

Posted on July 06, 2009
Students who are cardholders of the Richland County Public Library can access a database of pdfs of historical archives of SC newspapers. Please see a reference librarian for a demo of the access process.  (Post – Rebekah)

Displaying the United States Flag

Posted on July 03, 2009
It is customary to display the United States flag on the Fourth of July. We intuitively know that the flag should be treated with respect and that there are rules about such things ?somewhere.  We plan to look them up, particularly when we see one blowing in the wind at night, in the rain, in [...

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