Legal Research

Thanksgiving Holiday Hours

Posted on November 26, 2008
In recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Deane Law Library will operate under the following schedule: Wednesday, November 26: 7AM ? 8PMThursday, November 27 - Friday, November 28: CLOSEDSaturday, November 29: Extended hours resumeErnster, the Virtual Library Cat

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

Posted on November 25, 2008
Think you know how Congress works? Well, take a look at the How Congress Works site hosted by the U.S. House Committee on Rules for a complete overview of rules and procedures. Aside from links to rules, definitions, etc., there are CRS reports on legislative research and another on tracking current federal legislation and regulations...

The pardoning of the turkey

Posted on November 24, 2008
It's not to late to cast your vote for the the National Thanksgiving Turkey. The lucky turkeys (the National turkey and an alternate) will be flown to Disneyland and to spend the rest of their lives in leisure.If you are interested in statistics on clemency actions, such as pardons, the Department of Justice has a web page with statistical tables of clemency actions by administration...

Federal Register's Electronic Public Inspection Desk

Posted on November 22, 2008
Just in time for the Presidential transition period and the final regulatory rush (see yesterday's post), the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) has announced an electronic Public Inspection Desk to provide free online access to all documents--new final regulations, proposed regulations, and notices--that will be published in the next day's Federal Register, and to some that are scheduled to be published at a later date...

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Midnight Madness???

Posted on November 21, 2008
Today is the day the Bush administration must finalize regulations in order for them to take full effect before President Bush leaves office. These so-called "midnight regulations" have been used by every president since the outgoing Carter administration, according to the Sunlight Foundation blog ...

Identity Theft Resource Center

Posted on November 20, 2008
Identity theft occurs when someone steals personal information (often a Social Security number) from an individual, and subsequently impersonates that individual. It is one of today?s fastest-growing crimes. The Identity Theft Resource Center is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the understanding of identity theft, as well as its prevention...

G20 Meets in Washington

Posted on November 19, 2008
The group of 20 leaders from major industrialized and developing countries known as the G20 met in Washington last weekend. In their final communique the Delegation agreed "to work together to restore global growth."Click here for additional information about the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy...

Justice Matters

Posted on November 17, 2008
The Justice Matters web site from the National Partnership for Women and Families is a good place to go if you are interested in legal issues related to women and families. The site monitors Supreme Court cases on matters such as workplace discrimination, equal pay and health care...

Radiohead Price Model Casebooks

Posted on November 16, 2008
Professors are experimenting with how students pay for two new intellectual property law casebooks. See a summary here. One is being offered as a pay-what-you-will download, with a suggested price of $30, and another is offered as a free SSRN download...

Google Docs

Posted on November 14, 2008
My new favorite Google tool is Google Docs. You can use your Google account (which is the same as your pride account) to share Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. This means if you are working with a study group on an outline and you all want to contribute, you can put the outline on Google Docs...

Congressional Hearings Digitization Project

Posted on November 13, 2008
The Law Library of Congress contains approximately 75,000 volumes of printed Congressional Committee Hearings. Committees hold hearings for a variety of purposes on legislative proposals, the functioning of government programs, subjects of controversy, and other matters...

Useful Tips During Exam Period

Posted on November 12, 2008
Are you looking for additional resources to help you through exam period? Take a look at Study Guides. The Guide lists study aids available in the Library and it is organized by subject and series title.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S. Presidential Transitions: Resources

Posted on November 11, 2008
The transfer of power from one President to another is a tremendous and complicated affair. Resources have been developed to assist with the orderly transfer. Here are some resources of interest:Change.gov: Office of the President Elect offers the latest news, events, and announcements pertaining to the formation of the Obama Administration...

Nuremberg Trials Project

Posted on November 10, 2008
The Nuremberg Trials Project from the Harvard Law School Library is an incredible source of information those researching the Nuremberg trials. The project's goal is to digitize and make available documents from the Harvard Law Library's Nuremberg Trials Collection--this collection includes approximately one million pages of trial transcripts, briefs, document books and evidence files from the trials...

The New President and the Courts

Posted on November 09, 2008
It is now just a few days after the election, and people are already speculating about what changes President-Elect Obama will bring to the federal judiciary with his court appointments. Of course, most lawyers are curious to see who Obama will appoint if any justices step down from the Supreme Court, but as these National Law Journal and AP articles point out, Obama will immediately have fourteen circuit court seats to fill and about four dozen total federal court openings to fill...

Jury Expert

Posted on November 08, 2008
Interested in litigation? The Jury Expert: The Art and Science of Litigation Advocacy, is now online and free. This bimonthly publication of the American Association of Trial Consultants is full of fascinating, social science research-based articles on cutting edge topics such as preparing narcissistic witnesses, understanding "solution based mediation," and using technology to create visual images in the courtroom...

Are You Watching?

Posted on November 06, 2008
That is the question that WashingtonWatch poses. WashingtonWatch tracks the bills in Congress (along with estimates about their costs or savings, whenever possible), so that you may watch them and keep track of federal expenditures, bill by bill. To gather more information, or to comment on a bill, all you need to do is to click the link to a bill...

Helpful Policies During Exam Period

Posted on November 05, 2008
The Library has a new exam period schedule! Here is the new schedule:New Exam Period Schedule - Friday, November 21 - Thursday, December 18Monday - Friday 7:00 A.M. - 2:00 A.M.Saturday & Sunday 10:00 A.M. - 2:00 A.M.ExceptionWednesday, November 26 7:00 A...

Have you voted?

Posted on November 04, 2008
Remember the polls are open until 9 PM so there is time. Thanks to all of you who voted by absentee ballot and so have already performed your civic duty. Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Houned, Cowed and Badgered

Posted on November 03, 2008
Hounded, Cowed and Badgered is an animal law blog from an animal rights perspective. The blog contains informative, in-depth posts about legislation and court cases dealing with the rights of animals, as well as current events in animal rights. Although the posts seem somewhat sporadic, the content is fascinating...

Witch Pardons

Posted on November 01, 2008
While prowling the web, I discovered that a petition was delivered yesterday to the British Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, calling for the government to posthumously pardon more than 400 women and men executed as witches in England before the Witchcraft Act of 1735 (9 Geo...

Librarians in Black

Posted on October 31, 2008
One of our little known duties is to keep an eye on the aliens (intergalactic) in this building. We take the concept of diversity very seriously here. However, on this day some of the resident aliens (intergalactic) like to come out of "hiding" so to speak...

Count down to the election

Posted on October 30, 2008
We keep on hearing that this is an historic election, but what about elections in history. Voting America plots election results over time AND by locality . Not to be left out, good ol' Google has its own Election08 site - with links to YouTube, blogs and mashups with Google Maps and Google Earth...

Political Fact-Checking Websites

Posted on October 29, 2008
Are you still wondering about the factual accuracy of claims made by both presidential candidates? LLRX provides access to and a summary of several elections-oriented ?fact-checking? sites. Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Keeping track of the financial bailout

Posted on October 28, 2008
Mark Cuban launched BailoutSleuth this month to "keep an eye on our taxpayer dollars and call Bullshit when necessary." Chris Carey edits the blog, which looks promising. Recent watchdog posts include The Money List and the Next Wave.Christopher Carey is editor and president of Sharesleuth...

The Intelligence Project

Posted on October 27, 2008
The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project is dedicated to monitoring hate group and extremist activity. As such, it is an excellent place for information and analysis regarding hate crimes committed in the United States. Resources offered include the Intelligence Report, a map of U...

The Rough World of Attorney Athletics

Posted on October 26, 2008
This NY Lawyer article, about a negligence suit against the Lawyers Athletic League that was thrown out last week, makes law firm basketball sound a little more competitive than some might expect. The suit alleged that in 2006, a ringer (each team is allowed two) and former college player who was playing for a law firm team was punched and injured by an enforcer who was playing for the Food Bank of New York City...

Presidents past

Posted on October 24, 2008
With so much talk about who will be our next President, I found it useful to look at presidents in the past. You can now see the presidential papers and much more at the U.S. Presidential Library available on HeinOnline.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

FRASER

Posted on October 23, 2008
With the Federal Reserve Bank frequently in the news of late, FRASER might be of interest to readers of this blog. FRASER--The Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research--is a project by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St...

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes

Posted on October 22, 2008
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...

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