Legal Research

Pooling Scholars' Digital Resources

Posted on January 17, 2008
Interesting article from Inside Higher Ed: "The various and competing efforts to digitize university libraries? vast holdings have no lack of ambition, but access to documents and copyright issues have been two factors slowing the development of online scholarly repositories...

News Stories This Week Poll

Posted on January 17, 2008
I thought I would test drive a possible new blog feature today. [JH] How important were these stories to you? New self-destructing palm species discovered. A self-destructing palm tree that flowers once every 100 years and then dies has been...

Life after the J.D.

Posted on January 16, 2008
Here's an interesting interview of a recent law grad unable to find work for those pondering a career in law on the WSJ blawg. A brief item in the New York Post?s Page Six magazine caught our eye. In a...

Professional Reading on How to Create a Legal Research Toolbar

Posted on January 16, 2008
Jennifer Greig has recently posted her article to SSRN, "Have You Seen the New Library Bar?: Designing a Legal Research Toolbar." Here's the abstract: It seems like more and more people today are selecting their legal research results based on...

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FDA Announces Cloned Meat Safe to Eat

Posted on January 16, 2008
In a controversial move, the FDA announced yesterday that cloned animals pose no health risk if consumed. Wired.com has an article here. After four years of deliberation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that meat from cloned animals...

Information Overload

Posted on January 16, 2008
Law.com has a piece on information overload for attorneys, with some discussion of legal research here: Confronting today's practitioner is a virtual onslaught of daily information that requires organization, analysis and response. Although statistics vary on the amount of information...

Tushnet's Weak Courts, Strong Rights

Posted on January 16, 2008
"Tushnet puts flesh on the bones of the claim that constitutionally guaranteed social rights, judicially enforced, are already a part of the jurisprudence of the United States and other countries of interest. He takes this argument some distance beyond where...

Using Wiki-style Citizen Input for Law Reform

Posted on January 16, 2008
Interesting article from the New York Times Magazine: "When the New Zealand police force said they were open to suggestions about how to rewrite national policing laws, they meant it. In September, they posted the 1958 Police Act online and...

A Brief Overview of Attorney Directories and a 50 State Survey of Online State Bar Directories

Posted on January 16, 2008
Locating Lawyers (including Corporate Counsel): A Brief Overview of Attorney Directories and a 50 State Survey of Online State Bar Directories is another excellent resource from LLRX: "Obtaining background information on attorneys is a common question asked of law librarians...

New Reports on Global Climate Change

Posted on January 16, 2008
From the Pew Center on Global Climate Change: Towards an Integrated Multi-Track Climate Framework From the press release: "The Pew Center on Global Climate Change today released a new report outlining options for negotiating a post-2012 climate change agreement and...

Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?

Posted on January 16, 2008
From the Executive Summary of this McKinsey & Company report: "Consensus is growing among scientists, policy makers, and business leaders that concerted action will be needed to address rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. The discussion is...

"The Girl in the Photo" Enters...

Posted on January 15, 2008
"the elusive world of paralegaldom." Stina McClintock has left King County Law Library (Seattle) to become a paralegal! In an email to me she wrote in her usual tongue-in-cheek fashion: "God help me and what I am about to encounter....

LISNews Picks Law Librarian Blog as One of the Ten Blogs to Read in 2008

Posted on January 15, 2008
About our selection as one of the ten blogs to read in 2008 by LISNews, Blake Carver explains We had a hard time picking a law librarian blog. Our "final cut" list included three choices, and each seemed worthy to...

Professional Reading: Rosen's Unpacking the Bar: Of Cut Scores, Competence and Crucibles

Posted on January 15, 2008
Check out Gary Rosin's Unpacking the Bar: Of Cut Scores, Competence and Crucibles (SSRN). Here's the abstract for this very interesting study: Bar passage rates of first-takers vary widely among both the states and the law schools. State grading practices...

Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You

Posted on January 15, 2008
Interesting article from CIO.com: "The Internet has changed research dramatically. Now, it?s hard to resist defaulting to search engines, especially Google, as its capabilities grow. But you miss opportunities to get valuable insights into IT topics if you rely only...

The 2008 Statistical Abstract

Posted on January 15, 2008
From the U.S. Census Bureau: "The Statistical Abstract of the United States is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is also designed to serve as a guide to other...

In Congress, Key Debates Lie Ahead on Tuition Costs, Accreditation, and Piracy

Posted on January 15, 2008
From the Chronicle: "Members of Congress will tangle with some thorny issues when they return this month from their winter recess and resume work on the Higher Education Act, the major law that governs federal student aid." (sub. req.) [RJ]

Professional Reading: Originalism is Bunk

Posted on January 14, 2008
"This [paper] is important, and every originalist will have to reply (though some of them will have to surrender, at least if they know what's good for them!)." -- Brian Leiter, Brian Leiter's Law School Reports. Mitchell N. Berman's (Texas)...

Steven Davidoff: From Law Professor Blogs Network to New York Times

Posted on January 14, 2008
One of the joys of creating and developing the Law Professor Blogs Network with Paul Caron (Cincinnati) is providing younger law profs with a vehicle to promote their "scholarship in action." Here's an example of what can happen. Steven M....

Searching the Web Using Text Mining SE

Posted on January 14, 2008
Interesting article from Pandia Search Engine News: "What if you could get a search engine to summarize all the information found for you? Take a look at the iResearch Reporter! When you search the Web using a traditional search engine...

Criminal Justice Statistics Now Online

Posted on January 14, 2008
Two new publications: Bureau of Justice Statistics Capital Punishment, 2006 - Statistical Table. From the abstract: "Presents characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 2006, and of persons executed in 2006 from the NPS-8 data collection...

E-Government 2.0: Improving Innovation, Collaboration, and Access

Posted on January 14, 2008
Hearing, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: [Webcast] Member Statements Senator Joseph I. Lieberman Senator Susan M. Collins Witnesses Testimony Karen S. Evans, Administrator, Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology, Office of Management and Budget John...

Opening: Reference Librarian, Duke Law Library

Posted on January 14, 2008
The Duke Law Library is seeking an experienced reference librarian to join our team of skilled law-trained professionals working in a research-oriented, technologically innovative environment. In addition to teaching legal research and other reference responsibilities, the position will coordinate the...

Reflections on the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran

Posted on January 13, 2008
New report from the American Enterprise Institute: "In early December, sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies issued their latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). The report claims that Iran stopped work on its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a stark reversal of the...

Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq: Quarterly Report (December 2007)

Posted on January 13, 2008
Report from the U.S. Department of Defense: "The strategic goal of the United States in Iraq remains a unified, democratic and federal Iraq that can govern, defend and sustain itself and is an ally in the war on terror. This...

Progress in Iraq: The December Report on Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq

Posted on January 13, 2008
From the Center for Strategic & International Studies: "The attached report provides a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses in the latest Department of Defense report on Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq. It sees valid reporting of many...

Are We Running Out of Oil?

Posted on January 12, 2008
Check out Foreign Policy's interview (video) with Vijay Vaitheeswaran and Robert L. Hirsch about their conflicting views on the future of the world's greatest addiction. [JH]

Control Sought on Military Lawyers

Posted on January 12, 2008
Interesting article from the Boston Globe: "The Bush administration is pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward...

Can You Count on Voting Machines?

Posted on January 12, 2008
From the N.Y. Times: "As the primaries start in New Hampshire this week and roll on through the next few months, the erratic behavior of voting technology will once again find itself under a microscope. In the last three election...

DHS REAL ID Act Regs

Posted on January 11, 2008
DHS representatives briefed legislative aides on the details of the Department's REAL ID regs late Thursday. According to CNN, Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under the...

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