Legal Research

Personalize Search Results with Google's SearchWiki

Posted on November 25, 2008
Google has launched SearchWiki, "a way for you to customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results." [Official announcement] You can rank, remove and add notes to any result page and see those tailored results anytime you...

Judge Disallows LexisNexis and Westlaw Expenses, Calls Services "Overhead"

Posted on November 25, 2008
In Class Lawyers Against Coke Get More Than $31.5 Million, Robin McDonald reports that U.S. District Court Judge Willis B. Hunt disallowed $93,960.67 for LexisNexis and Westlaw expenses in a $137.5 million class action securities fraud settlement. Judge Hunt explained,...

Tort Costs Up Slightly in 2007

Posted on November 25, 2008
Tort costs in the United States rose by 2.1% in 2007, according to the 2008 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends from global professional services firm Towers Perrin. The $5.1 billion climb from 2006 costs marks the first cost escalation...

Getting Permission, Now There's No Excuse for HeinOnline Resources

Posted on November 25, 2008
HeinOnline has integrated its online legal research collection directly with Copyright Clearance Center to provide legal researchers a fast and easy way to price and obtain copyright permissions for using content found in HeinOnline. From the announcement: Using CCC?s Rightsconnect...

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Informationoverlord's Directory of Government RSS Feeds

Posted on November 25, 2008
On Informationoverlord, Scott Vine is compiling a directory of government RSS feeds. So for feed lists are available for France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, Slovenia and Slovenia here. Great project Scott!. [JH]

Congratulations to Karl Gruben

Posted on November 24, 2008
Karl Gruben has been appointed Associate Dean for Library and Information Services at the University of San Diego Legal Research Center, effective July 1, 2009. Karl has spent the last five years as Law Library Director and Professor of Law...

They Kill Turkeys, Don't They? Sarah Palin Pardons Turkey, Monty Python Style

Posted on November 24, 2008
Slaughterhouse employee didn't get the memo. [JH]

How Congress Works: Resources from the House of Representatives Committee on Rules

Posted on November 24, 2008
Want to know how Congress works? (read what to provide reading materials for your students to read on how Congress works?) Check out this House of Representatives Committee on Rules web page. It provides links to the following resources: Rules...

2008 Plum Book Now Available

Posted on November 24, 2008
The 2008 edition of The Plum Book (United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions) is now available from the GPO. You can download entire chapters (such as the Legislative Branch or Executive Branch Departments) in PDF or purchase a print...

Judicial Review and the Law of the Land

Posted on November 24, 2008
Philip Hamburger's Law and Judicial Duty (Harvard UP, Nov. 1, 2008) presents a very different history and a very different conception of the power of the judges. Drawing upon previously unexplored evidence, Philip Hamburger reveals the familiar notion of judicial...

A Quick Look at Intercountry Adoption

Posted on November 24, 2008
In recognition of National Adoption Month, the State Department?s Bureau of Consular Affairs has launched Adoption.state.gov, a new Web site devoted exclusively to intercountry adoption. Adoption.state.gov provides a central resource for adopting parents, adoption agencies, and others involved in the...

Georgia Supreme Court Sponsors Billboards Pushing Marriage to Fight Crime

Posted on November 23, 2008
A dozen billboards costing $50,000 urge Georgians to "Get Married, Stay Married." The billboards are intended to fight crime and are sponsored by the Supreme Court of Georgia. Don't worry taxpayers. The Georgia Bar Foundation picked up the tab. Details...

Pelosi and Reid Spell Out Auto Industry Bailout Requirements

Posted on November 23, 2008
In a letter to auto industry executives [text], Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spell out exactly what they think needs to be in the plan submitted to Congress in order to gain support for the bailout of...

A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis or How to Wire a Time Bomb

Posted on November 23, 2008
Check it out on mint.edu. [JH]

Teen Commits Suicide as Others Watch Online

Posted on November 22, 2008
The medical examiner said the teen may have stood a chance of surviving the drug overdose had someone notified authorities right away. CNN has the story. [JH]

Does the US Detention of Asylum Seekers Violate International Law?

Posted on November 22, 2008
This video, produced by NIJC intern Kevin Koll, explains how the U.S. immigrant detention system violates key international human rights standards. Hat tip to Kevin Johnson (Dean, UC Davis School of Law), ImmigrationProf Blog. [JH]

U.N. Security Council Report 2007-2008

Posted on November 22, 2008
The Report of the U.N. Security Council to the General Assembly is now available (A/63/2). Highlights of the report include: Peace and security in Africa Middle East peace process Kosovo?s independence Protection of civilians in armed conflict [RJ]

Kudos to Robert Ambrogi

Posted on November 21, 2008
Robert Ambrogi's LawSites blog celebrated it's sixth anniversary on Wednesday. [JH]

IRS Investigating Mozilla Foundation

Posted on November 21, 2008
The IRS is investigating the tax status of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation. John Colombo (Illinois) writes, "apparently, the issue is whether the foundation qualifies as a public charity or private foundation, and central to the dispute is the fact that...

Friday Fun: IT Cat Fixes Paper Jam

Posted on November 21, 2008
Hat tip to Meev. [JH]

Federal Reserve of New York's Dynamic Maps on US Credit Conditions

Posted on November 21, 2008
Credit Card and Mortgage Delinquency displays the 60+ day delinquency rates for credit cards issued by banks and the 90+ day delinquency rates for mortgages as well as the percentage point change in the delinquency rates from one year ago,...

HotDocs for Creating Transactional & Litigation Documents

Posted on November 21, 2008
HotDocs software allows attorneys to create a template based upon a legal document they composed. When the template is created, it can be used to generate similar documents for different situations. The template is opened using HotDocs Player. Per the...

Judicial Compensation in the Early Republic

Posted on November 21, 2008
James Pfander (Northwestern) has posted Judicial Compensation and the Definition of Judicial Power in the Early Republic, 107 Mich L. Rev. ___ (2008) on SSRN. The article explores the role of judicial compensation in shaping the familiar jurisdictional landmarks of...

A Quick Look at USPTO Examiners

Posted on November 21, 2008
USPTO Examiners is a website designed for professionals to anonymously review, rank, and learn about a patent examiner or a trademark examining attorney who works at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The site, which is not affliaged...

Gun Sales Spike Since Obama's Win

Posted on November 20, 2008
Gun shops nationwide are reporting huge sales since the election. According to NPR's All Things Considered, "some gun enthusiasts are worried that the president-elect and the Democratic Congress will move for tougher new gun laws that restrict some weapons...

Is One of Your Profs on Obama's Transition Team?

Posted on November 20, 2008
Nan Hunter (Georgetown Law) is keeping track of "lawbama profs." So far there's 31 law profs on the transition team. [JH]

NAWL Releases 2008 Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms

Posted on November 20, 2008
The National Association of Women Lawyers's 2008 Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms finds that women are still underrepresented at top levels of large law firms, paid less at every stage of practice than male lawyers,...

Does SCOTUS Need a Math Geek on Staff?

Posted on November 20, 2008
It's a small example of SCOTUS innumeracy but Sonja West's (Georgia) "nerdy and pedantic colleague" Christian Turner deserves his 15 seconds of SCOTUS fame for finding an incorrect mathematical reference in the Court's opinion in Winter v. NRDC (No. 07?1239,...

A Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries and the Google Library Project Settlement

Posted on November 20, 2008
Here's an ALA-ARL sponsored 23-page explanation of the pending Google Library copyright settlement: A Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries & the Google Library Project Settlement (Nov. 13, 2008). On the tentative settlement, see also LLB's post. [JH]

Top 50 Homeland Security Blogs

Posted on November 20, 2008
e-Justice identifies 50 excellent blogs representing the government, researchers, professionals in the field, and every-day citizens and their offerings on the ever-evolving and important topic of homeland security. Among the blogs listed is the Law Professor Blogs Network's ImmigrationProf Blog...

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