Legal Research

Sotomayor's Student Days

Posted on June 06, 2009
Law students and faculty might gain some special insight in to the personality and background of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by taking a look at some events and writings from her student days at Princeton University and Yale Law School. Check out Princeton's press release with a link to images and documents chronicling her undergraduate interests and achievements...

Ever-Changing Art On The White House?s Walls

Posted on June 04, 2009
The art that has decorated the White House since its inception has undergone some interesting mutations during that time. Click here for an overview of variations in presidential taste in decorative paintings, from George Washington?s time to the present...

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes Legislative Library

Posted on June 03, 2009
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) is an agency of the United Nations established to assist Member States with issues concerning illicit drugs and international crime. UNODC?s online legislation legal library provides full text of drug control laws and regulations adopted by countries in support of international drug control treaties...

YouTube - U.S. Government's channel

Posted on June 02, 2009
The U.S. government has aggregated channels and videos from across departments and agencies onto one site, YouTube - The U.S. Government Channel. Channels and playlists are organized by topics such as White House, NASA, etc. (channels) or "Defense and International" or "Money and Taxes" (playlists)...

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Legal Ethics and Facebook

Posted on June 01, 2009
The Legal Ethics forum has an interesting post on lawyers, litigation and Facebook. The "friending" of adverse witnesses or lawyers in pending litigation have apparently become problematic issues. I'm guessing that we'll soon see much more discussion about professional misconduct and the use of Facebook (and other social networking sites) by lawyers...

Supreme Court Confirmation Process

Posted on May 30, 2009
Now that we have a nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, the process of evaluation and confirmation hearings begins. You can find background about the process, confirmation surveys, and hearings documents on the web sites of two key players: the U...

SCOTUS Nominee: Sonia Sotomayer

Posted on May 26, 2009
Today Pres. Obama announced Second Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for the United States Supreme Court. She would replace Justice Souter who announced his decision to retire from the Court at the end of this term. The wikipedia entry on Judge Sotomayor may be found here, and a discussion of her opinions is available on SCOTUSblog here...

Kangaroo Courts

Posted on May 24, 2009
The Yankees recently held their first kangaroo court in over a decade. Mariano Rivera presided as judge. The Mariners also recently held a kangaroo court, and it sounds as though Ken Griffey, Jr. had better robes than Rivera, but that neither was dressed quite as poorly as Wade Boggs when he presided over the previous Yankees kangaroo court, if you believe the rumors...

Write Your Name In Runes

Posted on May 21, 2009
For a light-hearted yet historically informative start to your Summer break, why not see how your name looks when written in the Futhark, the ancient runic alphabet of the Nordic peoples. PBS?s Nova Online Web page allows you to type your name into a little box, and then see how it would look in the runic script...

Criminal Justice Reform Resources 2008-2009

Posted on May 19, 2009
Criminal justice reform is an issue that does not receive as much attention as it should, but there are people and organizations generating important work on the subject. Criminal Justice Reform Resources 2008-2009 compiles some of the most important resources and documents...

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

Posted on May 18, 2009
The 20th annual Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is scheduled from June 11 through June 25. This year, over 20 films are featured, touching human rights issues across the globe. One particularly interesting film is The Reckoning -- a documentary about the International Criminal Court...

Holmes Defeats Posner

Posted on May 17, 2009
Brian Leiter surveyed his readers with the question, 'Who were the most influential legal thinkers of the twentieth century?'  The results of the survey are here.  Oliver Wendell Holmes ranked first.  Richard Posner came in second.  Antonin Scalia was tenth...

Bottom Line Job Interview Tips

Posted on May 16, 2009
I can't help noticing how quiet my corner of the Library is, with most students celebrating the end of exams and/or Commencement weekend. For those facing law job interviews in the months ahead, it's a good time to review and bookmark these "right to the point" tips and tricks to "Ace that Job Interview" in tough financial times...

Congratulations, Graduates!

Posted on May 15, 2009
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S to all graduates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!As soon to be alumni, make sure to come back and visit. You are always welcome in the Library.As you make your plans to study for the Bar exam, check Library hours at http://law...

Update: Free Rice Vocabulary Game For World Hunger

Posted on May 14, 2009
In a previous post on January 10, 2008, we described the Free Rice game. The game helps to build one?s vocabulary, as follows: For each word you match with its correct synonym, Free Rice donates ten grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program...

Wolfram|Alpha a New Type of Search Engine

Posted on May 13, 2009
Something new in search engines will arrive on May 18. Referred to by some as a "Google killer," Wolfram|Alpha "is a hybrid of a search engine and an encyclopedia, designed to generate the answer to a search query, rather than the most relevant information...

New York State Senate website

Posted on May 12, 2009
The New York State Senate has re-designed the Senate's website and it is a big step forward in functionality and transparency. It is a clean design easy to figure out and easy to find the information you want. They have also added more information and made it interactive with the public...

Flare Index to Treaties

Posted on May 11, 2009
Looking for a treaty? The Flare Index to Treaties is a searchable database of multilateral treaties from 1856 to the present.The database presents information about more than 1,500 treaties, and provides links to the full text of the treaty when it is available online...

Free Case Law

Posted on May 10, 2009
Related to Thursday's post with guides to low cost legal research resources, there is a new article in Law Technology News that reviews free sources of case law. And you can add one more source to those listed in the article, the New York State Reporter...

Summer Lexis/Westlaw access

Posted on May 08, 2009
For those of you taking summer classes, doing research for a class or working as a research assistant, you may extend your Lexis and Westlaw passwords for the summer. To do this, use the links for each service in this post and look for the summer access links...

Free and Low-Cost Online Legal Research Resources

Posted on May 07, 2009
As many of you prepare for your Summer jobs, you may be interested to learn of free or low-cost legal research resources that are available online. Both Pace and Georgetown law schools offer excellent guides to unearthing such economical online legal research resources...

GlobaLex Research Tools

Posted on May 06, 2009
Are you looking for international, foreign, and comparative law research tools? Try GlobaLex.Published by the Hauser Global Law School Program at NYU School of Law, GlobaLex is an electronic legal publication dedicated to international and foreign law research...

Constitution Finder

Posted on May 04, 2009
Need to find the constitution of a particular country? Look no further than the Constitution Finder.This handy site allows you to search by country and links to the country's constitutional text. It is a nice place to keep in mind when doing foreign law research...

Souter Replacement Speculation

Posted on May 03, 2009
With the announcement that Justice Souter will be retiring at the end of the current term, the game of Supreme Court nomination speculation is in full gear.The Blog of Legal Times lists all of the likely candidates, and some others are listed in the comments...

Law Day Perspective

Posted on May 02, 2009
Each year on May 1, with law students in the midst of final exams, the nation observes Law Day, celebrating the higher ideals for which the law profession stands and the role it plays in a nation "under law." For just a little perspective while studying, take a few moments to read the official proclamation of the 51st Law Day, U...

Facts Galore

Posted on May 01, 2009
Need a quick fact and Google not finding it? refdesk.com is a great source for facts - such as maps, definitions, and translations. It is also great for a quick study break, with comics, music, games and jokes. There is much, much more, so check it out...

U.S. Government Web Site On Influenza Pandemics

Posted on April 30, 2009
Pandemicflu.gov is a U.S. government Web site devoted to swine, avian, and other pandemic influenza information.  The home page currently offers updates regarding the threatened swine influenza pandemic. Sidebar subjects include links to general information, planning and preparation, monitoring outbreaks, travel and economic impact, and much moreErnster, the Virtual Library Cat

Google's Public Data Tool

Posted on April 29, 2009
I was prowling the Law Librarian's Blog and discovered a cool new Google feature. With Google's Public Data Tool you can "compare visually public data often buried deep in government websites." Click here for more information.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Nuremberg Trials

Posted on April 28, 2009
From the site: Twenty-four major political and military leaders of Nazi Germany, indicted for aggressive war, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, were brought to trial before the International Military Tribunal. More than 100 additional defendants, representing many sectors of German society, were tried before the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals in a series of 12 trials known as ?Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings...

Immigration in the United States, 1789-1930

Posted on April 27, 2009
Harvard's Open Collections Program offers yet another web-based collection: Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930. This collection includes "approximately 1,800 books and pamphlets as well as 9,000 photographs, 200 maps, and 13,000 pages from manuscript and archival collections" and offers insight into the immigrant experience...

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