Legal Research

Shakespeare?s Legal Puns

Posted on June 26, 2008
The Bard is well known for his characters? comments apropos of all things legal. This Time magazine article from 1964 offers an amusing overview of Shakespeare?s wittier references to the law. Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

LaterLoop: A new bookmarking service

Posted on June 24, 2008
What makes LaterLoop stand out from other bookmarking services is that LaterLoop has a desktop version that allows you to view saved websites offline, and the mobile version that provides mobile access to your saved websites. LaterLoop also lets you share your saved sites with public profile options and RSS feeds...

World Values Survey

Posted on June 21, 2008
For those interested in what social scientists have learned about changing values and beliefs in 80 countries around the world over the last 25 years, the World Values Survey provides a wealth of information. Based on data from four "waves" of surveys representing the demographics and views of participants in 1981-1984, 1985-1993, 1994-1999, and 2000-2004, the web site describes the findings and the changes that have occurred in human values, life perceptions and expectations, and national identity across generations and with increased economic development...

More on Words

Posted on June 20, 2008
There are times when I just cannot find the right word beyond the good all purpose "meow". When that happens, I go to Thesaurus.com . Using this site has improved my writing and helped me to become a more erudite feline.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

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Fun With Palindromes

Posted on June 19, 2008
Palindromes are words or sentences that read the same way both backward and forward. The famous line attributed to Napoleon, ?Able was I ere I saw Elba?, and ?A man, a plan, a canal, Panama?, are fairly well-known examples. Many more odd and intriguing instances of these linguistic peculiarities are available at this site...

Loving Day

Posted on June 18, 2008
Did you know that June 12 was Loving Day? Loving Day is an educational community project commemorating Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that banned restrictions on interracial marriage. Although it's too late to join in on the Loving Day Celebrations, it's not too late to learn about the Supreme Court decision...

Nassau County

Posted on June 13, 2008
Did you know our very own Nassau County has a great web site for accessing local law? My favorite page is the Accessing Government, where you can find the Nassau County Administrative Code and Charter as well as links to other localities' websites and ordinances...

Advice For Future Litigators

Posted on June 12, 2008
When you conduct your first jury trial, make certain that your jurors are paying attention to the court proceedings, instead of, say, doing crossword puzzles, or playing Sudoku. Think I?m exaggerating? Then read this news story from Australia, where a jury in a lengthy and expensive criminal trial was recently discharged for doing just what I mention, above! Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Civil Rights Digital Library

Posted on June 11, 2008
The Civil Rights Digital Library is a wonderful source of information on the civil rights movement. In addition to offering an archive of historical news footage, the web site acts as a portal to related civil rights digital collections. You can browse the site by event, persons, places and topics...

Beat the Heat

Posted on June 10, 2008
Studying in the air conditioned library helps, but there are other tips to help cope with the hot weather.1. OK, this one should be obvious. Drink lots of water. Avoid caffeine, alcohol or drinks with a high sugar content.2. Wear loose light colored clothing...

Summer Associate Writing Tips

Posted on June 08, 2008
This article in the National Law Journal offers tips to help summer associates write better, but these tips could also be helpful to any law students or new attorneys. For anyone receiving a writing assignment from a lawyer, #3 is particularly helpful--it reminds us that attorneys sometimes accidentally leave out key information when giving a writing assignment and that the person receiving the assignment should ask for the missing information before beginning...

Survey on Status of Women in Law Firms

Posted on June 07, 2008
Law students interested in the status of women attorneys, particularly in law firm practice, should not overlook the 2007 Survey of the Status of Women in Law Firms. Results of the survey are compiled and published by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), an independent organization affiliated with the American Bar Association...

10 Essential Legal Web sites

Posted on June 06, 2008
For some new places to find legal information on the web, look at 10 Essential Legal Web sites for Litigators . Some you should recognize, but others, such as ZoomInfo, for information on companies and people, is a new one for me.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Cosmic Collisions!

Posted on June 05, 2008
Nothing puts the smaller-scale activities that take place in the "human aquarium", be they Bar examinations or presidential politics, into perspective quite like images of the greater cosmos, courtesy of the Hubble telescope.In particular, these photographs of cosmic collisions are intriguing on many levels, not least of which is the contrast between the immense power of the collisions and the glacial (by human standards) time scale at which they occur...

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

Posted on June 04, 2008
The 2008 Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be screening at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center from June 12-26. This festival features works that "help to put a human face on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of the human spirit and intellect to prevail...

Looks like it will be Obama

Posted on June 03, 2008
News sources are reporting that Barack Obama is likely to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for President this evening. The contest between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama for the nomination has made for an interesting primary.Please remember that Hofstra University is hosting a Presidential debate October 15, 2008...

Searchmash

Posted on June 02, 2008
If you would like to know whether your search results are available in other formats, try Searchmash a website operated by Google, Inc. Searchmash displays your Web results by URL and clusters other results by format type, such as blogs, videos and images...

Hein's Compiled Legislative Histories

Posted on June 01, 2008
People often try to compile federal legislative histories from scratch, but legislative histories of many important laws have already been professionally compiled and published. One good source for these is HeinOnline. Last week, Hein's blog offered a how-to for using its compiled legislative histories...

Audiobooks Online

Posted on May 28, 2008
I love listening to classic literature in audiobook format, especially in the summer! So I was excited when I found LibriVox -- a web site that provides audiobooks free for download. Libravox describes its mission as "acoustical liberation of books in the public domain"...

2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

Posted on May 27, 2008
2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a compendium of tables that provides data on foreign nationals who, during a fiscal year, were granted lawful permanent residence (i.e., admitted as immigrants or became legal permanent residents), were admitted into the United States on a temporary basis (e...

Complaints About Lawyers' Writing

Posted on May 25, 2008
This National Law Journal article surveys typical problems with lawyers' writing, noting that these problems are not all new, but that technology may be both helping and hurting. It also charts the pedigree of distraction from legal writing as being crossword puzzle > computer solitaire > basically anything on the internet...

Memorial Day weekend

Posted on May 23, 2008
Just a reminder for this holiday weekend. There will be no reference librarian here on Saturday and the Library is closed on Monday. We will be open bright and early on Tuesday morning at 8am. As always, you will find the Library's hours on our web site or pick up a bookmark...

Legal Limericks?A New Study Aid?

Posted on May 22, 2008
Do you Bar examination candidates need some catchy rhymed verse to help you to remember certain elusive case holdings or legal doctrines? Then why not visit the Legal Limericks page at the ContractsProf Blog? Here is an example: Parker v. 20th Century Fox The studio's conduct was terrible,And the actress's damage repairableOnly with a lead partIn a great work of art:A film that is at least comparable...

Municipal Codes Online

Posted on May 21, 2008
In this day and age, many municipal codes can be found on the internet. A good place to look first is E-Codes: Municipal Codes on the Internet. E-Codes contains hundreds of municipal codes from over twenty states. Coverage of municipalities in New Jersey and New York is particularly good; it contains the codes for over forty towns and villages in Nassau County alone...

Immigration and Assimilation in the U.S.

Posted on May 20, 2008
A recent study by the Manhattan Institute introduces a quantitative index that measures the degree of similarity between native- and foreign-born adults in the United States. These included civic factors, such as rates of U.S. citizenship and service in the military; economic factors, such as earnings and rates of homeownership; and cultural factors, such as English ability and degree of intermarriage with U...

UNdata

Posted on May 18, 2008
The UN produces lots of statistics on a wide variety of subjects, but they have not always been easy to find on the internet because this data is collected by many specialized agencies and sub-organizations and because it has often been presented in hard-to-use interfaces...

Career & Professional Development Blog

Posted on May 17, 2008
The semester is over, but a Virtual Library Cat just settles into a cool spot near the reference desk and continues to prowl the Web for news and sites related to legal research and technology, and life in the law. A good source of valuable information about getting and keeping legal jobs and making career decisions is Career & Professional Development Blog, a new member of the Law Professor Blogs Network...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on May 16, 2008
CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATES!!!1LS AND 2LS, you made it through.Have a great summer!!!!!!!Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Summer Library Hours

Posted on May 15, 2008
This is just a reminder that the Law Library is now on a Summer schedule. The Law Library hours for the first part of the Summer are as follows:SUMMER 2008 PRE-BAR EXAM SCHEDULE :Thursday, May 15 - Sunday, July 6Monday - Thursday 8:00 A.M. - 10:00 P.M...

Homeless Law blog

Posted on May 14, 2008
The Homeless Law blog is a relatively new blog that discusses the rights of homeless persons. In addition to providing insight into topics such as shelter, healthcare, and employment, it also provides links to helpful resources. A recent post on police and the use of force on homeless persons includes links to the model penal code, relevant case law and Department of Justice web pages...

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