Legal Research

Brennan Center Study Exposes Lack of Standards for Appointing Defense Counsel

Posted on October 02, 2008
The Brennan Center for Justice has released a provocative study examining the standards for determining eligibility for court-appointed defense counsel. In Eligible for Justice: Guidelines for Appointing Defense Counsel, the Brennan Center found that "many jurisdictions use flawed screening processes...

MU Law Library Launches the Lloyd L. Gaines Digital Collection

Posted on October 02, 2008
University of Missouri Law Library has put together an amazing digital collection that sheds light on the landmark civil rights case, Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (precurser to Brown v. Board of Education). The Lloyd L. Gaines Digital Collection...

Opening: Reference and Research Services Librarian, University of Richmond School of Law Library

Posted on October 02, 2008
The William Taylor Muse Law Library at the University of Richmond seeks a Reference and Research Services Librarian. Responsibilities: This full-time position will provide reference and research services and instruction for faculty, students and other library users (including one evening...

Text of Senate's Bailout Bill, H.R. 1424

Posted on October 01, 2008
What started out life as a 3 page document, grew to 110 pages and now is 451 pages long? Here's the text of the Senate's financial industry bailout bill (as a substiute to H.R. 1424). Read by all senators who...

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Save Taxpayer Dollars, Use Google Apps

Posted on October 01, 2008
An 18-person federal sales team is moving into the beltway to promote the use of Google Apps to federal agencies and the companies that work with them. Details in the Washington Post and PC World. [JH]

Public.Resource.Org to Provide Open Access to the CFR

Posted on October 01, 2008
Carl Malamud, President & CEO Public.Resource.Org, is in negotiations with the Government Printing Office to obtain an electronic copy of the Code of Federal Regulations. According to his request, Public.Resource.Org intends to make the CFR "available in raw format on...

New Fellows in Denver

Posted on October 01, 2008
The University of Denver is planning on recruiting and hiring 10 new "Law Librarian Fellows" as part of grant award of almost $1million from the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The fellows will be part of the Rural...

Senate to Vote of Financial Bailout Bill Tonight

Posted on October 01, 2008
The Senate plans to vote on the $700 billion financial rescue plan tonight. The bill adds provisions raising the FDIC cap increase (from $100,000 to $250,000 per account), creating and extending incentives for renewable energy and including a one-year patch...

Most Americans Would Accept More Limits on Some First Amendment Freedoms

Posted on October 01, 2008
The First Amendment Center's 2008 State of the First Amendment survey questioned adults on their attitudes and opinions about free expression, a free press and religious liberty. The survey found that this year: 39% would extend to subscription cable and...

Why Are There Unpublished Opinions?

Posted on October 01, 2008
Prompted by finding an unpublished opinion that was unfavorable to the client's case while serving as a legal intern, Shenoa L. Payne reflects on the questions the situation raised in The Ethical Conundrums of Unpublished Opinions, 44 Willamette L. Rev...

FindLaw's Interactive Guide to Electronic Discovery

Posted on October 01, 2008
Findlaw has developed an Interactive Guide to Electronic Discovery that will "help you develop your knowledge of e-discovery practices and determine the best strategies for success with complex e-discovery issues". Topics include: Records Management; Identification; Preservation; Collection; Processing; Review; Analysis;...

New Firefox Extension Automatically Hyperlinks Legal Citations in Web Pages But...

Posted on October 01, 2008
For all you IE haters out there, check out Jureeka, a Firefox extension that converts legal citations that it recognizes into hyperlinks to a web page for the cited source. Before: After: Users Beware. As with most beta products, there...

Opening: Faculty Services Librarian, St. Mary?s University School of Law Library

Posted on October 01, 2008
We?re pleased to announce the position of Faculty Services Librarian/Assistant Professor at St. Mary?s University School of Law. This is a University tenure-track faculty position reporting directly to the law library director. The tenure is within the University, not the...

Senate Passes Financial Industry Bailout Bill by Wide Margin

Posted on October 01, 2008
CNN is reporting that the Senate passed H.R. 1424 [text] by a vote of 74 to 25 tonight. See also CNN's timeline of the financial industry crisis which isn't over because the Senate's bill is similar in key ways to...

Kudos to Sue Barry

Posted on September 30, 2008
Sue Barry, a Reference Attorney trainer at West?s Eagan, Minnesota headquarters, is celebrating her 25th anniversary with the company. Remember WALT? Sue does. Details on Westblog. [JH]

The Greatest Legal Movie: ABA Journal Has Counted the Votes and the Winner Is...

Posted on September 30, 2008
What would Hollywood do without lawyers? And what would the editors of the ABA Journal do without its 25 greatest legal movies poll? The winner for the greatest legal movie award is ... To Kill a Mockingbird [Poll results] See...

From inept governing comes an inept use of the English language

Posted on September 30, 2008
The House might not have come up with a plan to save Wall Street, but they sure did come up with some great metaphors to explain away their incompetence. Check out Dana Milbank?s article Debating the Bailout, Torturing Language for...

Publish All Mortgages We Buy

Posted on September 30, 2008
Eventually some sort of bailout bill will pass Congress but before it does, Dan O'Neil has a great idea for an amendment to the bill -- require public disclosure of all mortgage security instruments the government buys. Why? So the...

State of the Blogosphere 2008

Posted on September 30, 2008
Technorati has released its State of the Blogosphere 2008 Report. The five-part report covers the following topics: Who Are the Bloggers? The What And Why of Blogging The How of Blogging Blogging For Profit Brands Enter The Blogosphere [JH]

The Global Legal Monitor Redesigned

Posted on September 30, 2008
The Law Library of Congress has revamped the Global Legal Monitor from a monthly pdf to a continuously updated website. The new interface allows for advance searching by topic or jurisdiction. There's also an rss feed for those of us...

FAQ for the 2008 ABA Questionnaire

Posted on September 30, 2008
The ABA Law Libraries Committee has drafted a FAQ for the 2008 ABA Questionnaire. Please note that electronic titles are counted differently this year, so it is important that you read the Definitions & Instructions section of the Questionnaire. 2008...

University of Michigan Library Launches Print-on-Demand Service

Posted on September 30, 2008
The University of Michigan Library will launch its on-demand print service tomorrow. [Press Release] Just about any out-of-copyright book from Michigan?s digital collection can be printed and bound on the spot. Printing takes five to seven minutes, and the cost...

Opening: Electronic Resources/Reference Librarian, Charlotte School of Law Library

Posted on September 30, 2008
The Charlotte School of Law, which recently received provisional accreditation from the ABA, seeks a creative, skilled, and service-oriented colleague for the position of Electronic Resources/Reference Librarian. This position focuses on electronic resources we are now using and will use...

So What's Plan B? Bailout Bill Rejected in the House

Posted on September 29, 2008
The bill designed to fix the broken financial industry failed in the House by a vote of 228-205 today. [Text of Bill | Roll Call ] No word on "Plan B." Two reports from CNN: Bailout plan rejected - supporters...

Web Search Strategies in Plain English

Posted on September 29, 2008
Check out the latest offering from the folks from Common Craft entitled: Web Search Strategies in Plain English. As the title implies, the video offers advice on taking your web search to the next level by discussing effective search strategies...

West's Bank Bailout Webcast, Today at 1 PM Eastern

Posted on September 29, 2008
West LegalEdcenter and West Legalworks is offering a free live webcast titled "Bailout or Washout: An Analysis of the Treasury Proposal to Purchase Mortgage-Related Assets," today, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern. [Register from this page] The webcast will...

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 Released, Financial Industry Bailout House Debate Starts Today

Posted on September 29, 2008
The House is expected to debate its version of the financial industry bailout bill, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, today. The text of the bill was released yesterday: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 Summary of Emergency Economic Stabilization...

Thomson Reuters Sues Zotero's Creators for Reverse Engineering EndNote

Posted on September 29, 2008
Thomson Reuters is demanding $10 million and an injunction to stop George Mason University and one of the University's professors, Daniel J. Cohen, from distributing Zotero, the free and open source plugin to Firefox that researchers may use to manage...

It's Banned Books Week

Posted on September 29, 2008
As we commemorate Banned Books Week, September 27-October 4, let's pause to reflect on former ALA President Nancy Kranich's comments about our frontline warriors against censorship, public librarians like Mary Ellen Emmons: Faced with such dilemmas, librarians know that even...

New Look For UN Treaty Collection Site

Posted on September 29, 2008
The Office of Legal Affairs Treaty Section has rolled out a redesign of the United Nations Treaty Collection (don't forget to update your canned presentations). While the content remains free, the Collection has been refined to offer a variety of...

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