Legal Research

"Journal of E-Government" changes name, scope

Posted on June 09, 2008
As reported in LPSS News (law & political science section of Association of College & Research Libraries/American Library Association), Volume 23, Number 2, Spring 2008 issue, p. 7: In fall 2007 (volume 4, issue 1) the Journal of E-Government became the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (JITP)...

In the News: MN OAG Investigation

Posted on June 06, 2008
Summary: "An independent investigation of the office by St. Thomas Law Dean Thomas Mengler cleared the Attorney General of wrongdoing related to her handling of cases in the office. In response to the investigation report, Attorney General Swanson fired the attorney who brought the original complaint...

Founding Fathers Papers to Go Digital

Posted on June 05, 2008
National Archives Creates Plan for Online Access to Founding Fathers Papers From the press release from May 7, 2008: "Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein submitted a report, entitled The Founders Online, to the Committees on Appropriations of the U...

New Resource on Law Student Transition to Summer Work

Posted on June 04, 2008
Transitioning from One-L to Summer Legal Work is a series of 19 podcasts each by a different legal writing professor. The series was produced by Suffolk University Law School's Professors Gabriel Teninbaum and Kathleen Elliott Vinson. The title is a bit misleading since the advice offered is appropriate for all law students working this summer including recent graduates starting their legal careers...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

New Acquisitions in May 2008

Posted on June 02, 2008
Here is the list of new titles the Law Library acquired in May 2008. The list is also on the Library's home page. May Acquisitions

Law & Creativity

Posted on May 30, 2008
Thinking About Law and Creativity: On the 100 Most Creative Moments in American Law, by Robert F. Blomquist (Professor of Law/Swygert Research Fellow, Valparaiso University School of Law): http://abajournal.com/files/100CreativeMoments.pdf From the Abstract: "In most cultural contexts creativity is viewed as an unalloyed virtue...

Vocare: Law School Career Resource Gold!

Posted on May 29, 2008
Looking for some extremely useful legal career resources? Check out Vocare: blog of the Career and Professional Development Center here at the UMN Law School. Photo: Ruffneck119 Here is a sampling of recent helpful information posted on the blog: Reference Q&A: When you are the reference and you get the surprise call, you have two choices...

Legal Resources News & Notes

Posted on May 28, 2008
Here are some new or updated legal resources that have recently been announced: Overview of State Legislation Related to Immigrants and Immigration New report from the National Conference of State Legislatures: "This report provides a first look at introduced legislation in 2008 and presents selected examples of enacted laws relating to immigrants and refugees...

Southern Poverty Law Center: Intelligence Project

Posted on May 27, 2008
Southern Poverty Law Center: Intelligence Project http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intpro.jsp The Southern Poverty Law Center has been monitoring the activities of hate groups and extremist activities since 1981. Today, their Intelligence Project continues to track over 800 hate groups across the United States...

Two new resources on Law Student Skills & Success

Posted on May 21, 2008
Success Rate of Law School Graduates on the Teaching Market Brian Leiter (Texas) has published Success Rate of Law School Graduates on the Teaching Market 2006-2008. This new ranking study is based on data compiled by Daniel Solove (George Washington) and Larry Solum (Illinios)...

New Article on Copyright Law

Posted on May 20, 2008
Alina Ng (Mississippi College School of Law) has deposited Authors and Readers: Conceptualizing Authorship in Copyright Law in SSRN. Here's the abstract: Copyright law recognizes authors as the first owners of copyright. However, there is paucity of literature in copyright analysis of the author and the rights which should be granted by virtue of the very act of creativity in the production of literary and artistic works...

New EBSCO Interface Coming Soon

Posted on May 19, 2008
EBSCO will be coming out with a new interface in July. Many interesting options worth a peek (e.g. ability to preview images or abstracts from a results list; a date slide limiter; etc.). A list of new features, with a self-paced demo, is available at: http://ebscohost...

Two New Law Review Resources

Posted on May 16, 2008
From the Law Librarian Blog comes news of two new resources related to Law Reviews: A group of anonymous law review article editors are publishing the Anonymous Articles Editor Blog. This new blog is offering "tips for law professors on how to increase their chances of getting published (or at least a favorable reading by an articles editor)...

Law Library Summer Hours

Posted on May 15, 2008
The Law Library's hours will change tomorrow May 16. The library will close at 4:30 pm on May 16 and be closed May 17-18. Summer hours begin Monday May 19: Photo by Mingfong Summer Hours Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Weekends, Closed May 26, July 4, Sept...

New e-Journal: Law & Ethics of Human Rights

Posted on May 14, 2008
Law & Ethics of Human Rights This new e-journal from Berkeley Electronic Press focuses on human rights law and its intersection with political theory and policy. Each issue centers around one contemporary human rights dilemma that raises major legal and moral questions...

Legal Research Certification

Posted on May 13, 2008
Improving Legal Research Instruction: Texas Tech's Certificate of Excellence in Legal Research Program As law schools send their graduates off to practice law and their first and second year students to summer programs, many are all too often ill-equipped to perform legal research effectively...

YouTube Review: Contract Law

Posted on May 09, 2008
Every so often, we'll review what we find on YouTube that could be used for legal research or education. On the topic of Contract Law, we find Legalmax.info. It has "Contract Law lectures, Contract Law tutorials, Contract Law tips, a Contract Law essay ranking exercise, Contract Law cases & materials, Sale of Goods lectures, & as an added extra: a Web Law Library...

New Acquisitions in April 2008

Posted on May 09, 2008
Here is the list of new titles the Law Library acquired in April 2008. The list is on the library's home page. April Acquisitions

Green Use of Paper

Posted on May 08, 2008
Facts listed in the March/April 2008 issue of Training. You can read the full article, "It's Not Easy being Green" in EBSCO Business Source Premier. Photo by kenofseattle Did You Know? ? 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333 sheets. ? 1 ream of paper (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree...

Upcoming Changes to Key Number System

Posted on May 07, 2008
Changes to the Key Number System On May 12, West plans to release significant changes to the Key Number System. Attorney editors have completed the reclassification of over 500,000 headnotes. The improvements include the following: A large portion of the topic CRIMINAL LAW has been revised and expanded to account for recent changes in the law relating to the right to counsel, effectiveness of counsel, conduct and argument of either prosecuting attorneys or defense counsel, authentication of evidence, mistrial, regulation of trial, and standards of review on appeal...

New Access to Old MN Laws

Posted on May 06, 2008
The Office of the Revisor of Statutes has added all the historic Minnesota session laws, from 1849 to 1993, to the Legislature's web site. They are all keyword-searchable. Since this event happens to coincide with the state's sesquicentennial, Revisor Michele Timmons issued a press release: https://www...

RAQ: Recently Asked Questions

Posted on May 05, 2008
In this occasional feature, we highlight recently asked questions and brief answers from the Law Library reference desk. Q: I need to research the legislative history of an old Minnesota statute. Are there records of debates and committee meetings available? A: No, the earliest records (audio tapes) of Minnesota legislative sessions and committee meetings start in 1991...

Shakespeare and the Law

Posted on May 02, 2008
Kenji Yoshino, Yale Law Professor (joining NYU School of Law in the fall), has contributed his thoughts on "Shakespeare and the Law" to Bigthink, a website devoted to "direct, unfiltered interviews with today's leading thinkers, movers and shakers." Photo: umjanedoan, flickr...

Center for Worklife Law

Posted on May 01, 2008
Family Responsibility Discrimination (also called "caregiver discrimination") is "discrimination against workers who have family caregiving responsibilities" and it can affect both women and men, parents of children and children of the elderly. The Center for Worklife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law is a great resource for learning about this type of discrimination...

Prepare for Exams with Library Study Aids!

Posted on April 29, 2008
With exams just around the corner, the Law Library would like to remind you of some useful study aids available through the library?s website: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/home.html A thorough bibliography of the most current and helpful Treatises, Hornbooks, Nutshells & Study Aids for Law Courses is available at: http://local...

Quiet Hours May 1-16

Posted on April 29, 2008
During May 1-16, part of the first floor of the Law Library is designated as a QUIET ZONE. We have posted signs near the area and would appreciate your cooperation in keeping this part of the library as quiet as possible. When studying in this area please be sure to: ? turn-off the sound on your laptop, ? turn-off or silence your cell phone, ? and refrain from talking...

YouTube Review: Employment Law

Posted on April 25, 2008
Every so often, we'll review what we find on YouTube that could be used for legal research or education. On the topic of Employment Law, not only will you find informational videos that deal with specific topics such as discrimination, compensation, or non-compete agreements, but you'll also find fun videos that feature a "sing-a-long" review of employment law reminders for Human Resource professionals (see below)...

Congressional Research: Video Tutorials

Posted on April 24, 2008
The University of California at Berkeley has created several video tutorials that demonstrate how to do Congressional research in the following areas, each of which is highly useful for law students: Finding bills and Congressional debates from 1989 forward on Thomas Finding a Congressional report on LexisNexis Congressional Finding debates from 1873 to the present in print in the Congressional Record...

Earth Day Resources

Posted on April 22, 2008
Today is Earth Day, which was started on April 22, 1970 in protest over the smog and dirty rivers in the United States (according to the EPA's history page). In addition to any other fun activities you might be enjoying (like riding the bus to work or planting a tree), why not check out a few Earth Day resources from the government: Earth Day 2008 This page from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides links to events and actions you can take at home, work, school and more...

Announcing New Outdoor Book Return!

Posted on April 21, 2008
As a result of user demand, the Law Library has installed an outdoor book return. It is the maroon and gold box located next to the blue US Postal Service boxes near the front entrance to Mondale Hall. Any University of Minnesota library book can be returned there...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.