Legal Research

Playing Hide and Seek with WestlawNext Pricing

Posted on March 23, 2010
Apparently WestlawNext pricing is too confusing for West to answer questions in writing, even when the source of confusion is Johnny Westlaw. In Westlaw Reps Don?t Know their A$$es From their Elbows When it Comes to WestlawNext Packages and Pricing,....

AALS and SALT File Amicus Briefs in Law School Discrimination Case

Posted on March 23, 2010
The Association of American Law Schools and the Society of American Law Teachers have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the position of the University of California Hastings College of Law. Hastings denied funding to the Christian Legal...

US Supreme Court Launches New Website, Hopefully a Work in Progress

Posted on March 22, 2010
SCOTUS launched a new website last week. While the redesign replaces the very, very dated look and feel of the former site, in terms of functionality, unfortunately, the only major developments are a new URL, www.supremecourt.gov, a case citation finder...

The National Broadband Plan and Education

Posted on March 22, 2010
Within Chapter 11 of the National Broadband Plan is a proposal that Congress consider legislation that would expand the use of digital content in education. One path is for the Department of Education to establish standards that would allow for...

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Canadian Academic Law Library May Be in Danger of Closing

Posted on March 22, 2010
Or at least losing its identity as a distinct library within the larger university. The is a story in The Journal, from Queen's University in Canada, that suggests the academic law library there may be in danger of closing from...

2010 Federal 100 IT Award

Posted on March 21, 2010
The annual Federal 100 award recognizes individuals in government and industry who made significant contributions to the federal information technology community. Here's the 2010 Federal 100. [JH]

Round-Up of Practitioner Blogs

Posted on March 20, 2010
Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Blog http://www.pennsylvanianursinghomeabuseattorneyblog.com http://www.pennsylvanianursinghomeabuseattorneyblog.com/index.xml Reports on nursing home abuse news, reports and cases in Pennsylvania. Published by Rosenbaum & Associates...

MAPLight Launches Redesigned Website

Posted on March 20, 2010
Details about the redesigned MAPLight website here. [JH]

Amazon Plays Hardball With Small- and Medium-Sized Publishers Over eBook Pricing Model

Posted on March 19, 2010
In Amazon Threatens Publishers as Apple Looms, Motoko Rich and Brad Stone report on how Amazon.com is trying to pressure publishers ahead of the launch of Apple's iBookstore. According to the New York Times story Amazon is threatening to stop...

Friday Fun: A (humorous) day in the life of a college president.

Posted on March 19, 2010
We think you'll enjoy this video showing how the President of Macalester College in Minnesota celebrates, um, President's Day. Hat tip to the Chronicle of Higher Ed. (jbl)

Public Equals Online: H.R. 4858, Public Online Information Act (POIA) Mandates Executive Branch Online Publication and Calls Upon Legislative and Judicial Branches To Do the Same

Posted on March 19, 2010
Introduced by Rep. Steve Israel on March 16th to coincide with this year's Sunshine Week events, the purpose of H.R. 4858, Public Online Information Act (POIA) [Thomas] includes the following: (1) To establish an advisory committee to issue nonbinding guidelines...

New Book: Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice

Posted on March 19, 2010
Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice (O'Reilly Media, Feb. 1, 2010) discusses the possible ways government can utilize the power of citizen engagement to become more efficient and transparent. The collection of essays features the following contributors: Beth...

Sources for Finding Mandated Reports to Congress by U.S. Federal Agencies

Posted on March 19, 2010
LLSDA's great Legislative Source Book has added a new listing, Sources for Finding Mandated Reports to Congress by U.S. Federal Agencies. Written by Rick Mckinney, Assistant Law Librarian, Federal Reserve Board Law Library, the feature describes and links to sources...

Opening: Research Librarian, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Menlo Park, CA Office

Posted on March 19, 2010
The Menlo Park office of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP seeks an energetic and service-oriented Reference Librarian who can manage its on-site legal research collection while participating as part of a team of research librarians worldwide. The Menlo Park office...

Viacom and Google Ugly Details Emerge in Court Filings

Posted on March 19, 2010
Documents in the $1 billion Viacom suit were unsealed yesterday, and what a tale they tell. Viacom, for its part, alleges that YouTube founders deliberately allowed pirated content on the site and that Google was aware of this and continued...

How to Cancel the Unsolicited Copies of Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial, National Edition From West

Posted on March 19, 2010
Yes, the loose-leaf set from Rutter Group/Thomson West you did not order is "free," but the update that will be automatically shipped out soon will not be free. Apparently you can't cancel the title by calling your West rep. You...

C-SPAN Launches Searchable Video Archive: New Source for Legislative History Research

Posted on March 18, 2010
Earlier this week, C-SPAN launched the C-SPAN Archives containing every C-SPAN program aired since 1987 for historical, educational, research, and archival uses. All C-SPAN programs since 1993 are digital and can be viewed online for free. From the announcement: The...

WestlawNext User Guides, Monthly Email Newsletter and WestSearch for Dummies Brochure

Posted on March 18, 2010
A sampling of WestlawNext user guides now available here include: Getting Started on WestlawNext Checking Citations in KeyCite Retrieving Cases on WestlawNext Retrieving Statutes on WestlawNext Your WestlawNext Registration Key Using Folders to Organize Your Research Comparing Westlaw and WestlawNext...

Reminder: Law Librarian Conversations, Friday, March 19: A Conversation with Roberta Shaffer, Law Librarian of Congress

Posted on March 18, 2010
Roberta Shaffer, Law Librarian of Congress, will join Keith Ann Stiverson, Roger Skallbeck, Marcia Dority Baker, and Richard Leiter to discuss her vision for the Law Library. Friday, March 19, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CDT Space is limited....

State Department Thinks Net Neutrality Could Give Other Countries the Wrong Idea

Posted on March 18, 2010
A long time reader pointed me in the direction of this article in Broadcast & Cable, which is an account of a speech by Ambassador Philip Verveer, Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy...

Judicial Conference Launches Pilot Program to Make Federal Court Opinions Accessible via FDsys

Posted on March 17, 2010
While the press release headline reads "Judiciary Approves PACER Innovations To Enhance Public Access" because the Judicial Conference has increased the number of documents members of the public can obtain free through PACER and, after its two-year pilot project, approved...

Dear God, Not Another Law School Ranking Metric: Top 10 Law School Home Pages of 2009

Posted on March 17, 2010
The ranking is based on "a tabulation of fourteen objective design criteria." including some truly significant ones, like: Favicon ? 7 points: A favorites icon (or ?favicon?) is a small graphic associated with a website, which appears in places such....

Gay and Lesbian Hate Crimes Being Committed at Idaho Law

Posted on March 17, 2010
In Hate Abounds at University of Idaho College of Law, ATL's Elie Mystal is reporting a series of distrubing actions against the gay and lesbian community in the College of Law building, including defacing pictures and placing threaten flyers on...

FCC Launches Tools for Consumers to Test and Report Their Broadband Service

Posted on March 17, 2010
The FCC's Consumer Broadband Test and the Broadband Dead Zone Report allow consumers to test their broadband service and report areas where broadband is not available. Snips from the press release: The Consumer Broadband Test measures broadband quality indicators such...

Social networking guidelines for judges and attorneys

Posted on March 17, 2010
Here's a short, helpful article that compiles recent ethics advisory opinions on the efficacy of attorneys "friending" judges and vice versa. The unforeseen perils of online communication and participation [in social networking] by judges and lawyers have been revealed in...

U New Hampshire and Franklin Pierce Law Center to Merge

Posted on March 17, 2010
Forget the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Southern New England School of Law. The next law school merger is coming right next store between the University of New Hampshire and the Franklin Pierce Law Center. The Boards of both institutions...

Google Apparently "99.9 Percent" Certain to Shut Down in China

Posted on March 16, 2010
The Financial Times and Bloomberg are reporting that negotiations between Google and the Chinese government over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and that Google is now ?99.9 percent? certain that it will shut down Google.cn. The final decision has...

In re WestlawNext Pricing: "Hi, My Name is Johnny Westlaw, You Got the Money?"

Posted on March 16, 2010
"The presentation began with a statement that no questions about pricing will be answered at this time," wrote Mark Giangrande in his LLB post reporting on attending the WestlawNext roadshow in Chicago. Ah, OK. I bet that means the most...

Upcoming Public LAW.GOV Workshops

Posted on March 16, 2010
Hat tip to Legal Informatics Blog for updating the list of upcoming LAW.GOV. events. LAW.GOV announcements can be found here.[JH] April 2 Boulder, CO Putting the Law Online, A Law.Gov Workshop Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado Law...

Study shows half of college students use Wikipedia for school related research

Posted on March 16, 2010
That's according to a recent studypublished in First Monday, an online, peer-reviewed Journal. The study concluded that about 50% of all students used Wikipedia even when their instructors told them not to. More specifically, the study examined these five questions:...

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