Legal Research

Nuclear Non-Proliferation ??? A New Way Forward from Prof. Jack Garvey

Posted on March 03, 2008
Addressing acknowledged flaws in the consensual regime of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, USF's Professor Jack I. Garvey calls for a New Architecture for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The keystone of the new architecture would be a United Nations Security...

One in 100 Americans Behind Bars -- Pew Report Released

Posted on February 29, 2008
The Chronicle of Higher Education points out in this article that a new report on the US prison population and spending has just been released. The report is the work of the Pew Center of the States and is titled One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008 (click here to link directly to a 37 page ...

Westlaw's KeyRules

Posted on February 29, 2008
Westlaw has released a new tool for litigators called KeyRules.   KeyRules "gathers all applicable rules governing common federal and state court procedures and condenses them" into one document with links to all of the listed rules...

A Flood of Free Federal Appellate Case Law

Posted on February 26, 2008
Suddenly, after years of doing without any decent free source of federal appellate decisions, legal researchers now have least two excellent options: The Public Library of Law (from Fastcase) US Court of Appeals Cases and Opinions (from Justia) Both the Public Library of Law and Justia have federal circuit court cases going back to 1950...

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Presentation on Research Strategy & Secondary Sources

Posted on February 25, 2008
Here is a copy of the presentation for students participating in a clinical program: Download ClinicalExternsSpr08.ppt

Helpful Roundup of Law Review Submission Resources

Posted on February 21, 2008
Concurring Opinions has a nice post summarizing some of the online resources for scholars submitting articles to law reviews.  Included are links to online guides to article length restrictions, law review contact info, law review ranking info, and electronic submissions...

The Mother of all Jury Questionnaires

Posted on February 21, 2008
Anne Reed over at Deliberations has posted a proposed jury questionnaire for the upcoming federal corruption trial of former Orange County sheriff Mike Corona, his mistress, and his wife. It's a remarkable document -- because of its length and because of the extraordinarily detailed questions...

So you want to be a law librarian...

Posted on February 15, 2008
You're in law school and intend to complete your J.D., but are not so sure you want to practice law.  You're not alone.  If you're considering alternative careers, give some thought to law librarianship!  Just ask one of the several librarians here at Zief who have made the switch and have no regrets! Anyway, if you're even remotely considering getting a Master's degree in Library & Information Science (required for most professional law librarian jobs), check out the University of Arizona's Law Library Fellowship program...

Valentine's Day

Posted on February 14, 2008
Here is a roundup of notable Valentine's Day posts and news stories: Law and Letters: Against Love, Or At Least The Idea Of It Law Blog: Office Romances & The Law: a Q & A With Ashley Brightwell AP: Radio Station Giving Away Free Divorce.  What a way to observe Valentine's Day! South Carolina Family Law Blog: Valentine's Day Tips to Stay Happily Married CM Law Library Blog: Valentine's Day Research Contest And for you bargain-hunters out there, some recommendations on budget bubbly from the New York Times:  Champagne: How Low Can You Go? Happy Valentine's Day! 

Web 2.0 for Legal Researchers

Posted on February 13, 2008
We're giving a presentation this week on just a few of the Web 2.0 applications that are useful for legal researchers.  You can find a copy of our presentation here: Download Web20LegalResearch.ppt

Successful Statute Searching on Lexis and Westlaw

Posted on February 13, 2008
ZiefBrief has noticed that researchers skilled in other aspects of Lexis and Westlaw struggle at times with statute searching. Diane Murley of Arizona State's Ross-Blakley Law Library must have observed these struggles too, because she's been blogging succinct, invaluable tips for getting the most out of statutes on Lexis and Westlaw...

The US Government Has a Blog.

Posted on February 06, 2008
It seems like everybody, but everybody has a blog these days (including Geoffery Chaucer at the ZiefBrief favorite Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.) Not wanting to be left out of the fun, the US Government is blogging up a storm at Govgab. This new effort is the product of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications out of the U...

Protections for Workers' Online Recreational Activities

Posted on February 05, 2008
Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've heard the story about Anthony Ciolli, a Penn law student who was once "Chief Education Director" for the controversial message board site, AutoAdmit.  Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge withdrew its job offer to Ciolli after the firm discovered that Ciolli was involved in the AutoAdmit controversy...

Kudos to USF IP Publication for Net Neutrality Symposium

Posted on February 05, 2008
As the Internet becomes the major commercial thoroughfare for the American economy and Web 2.0 applications place greater demands on bandwidth, the issue of Net Neutrality is going to become more and more important. For those readers who have been living under a virtual rock, Net Neutrality refers to the struggle between proponents of a ?free? Internet who favor unlimited access versus those who for reasons of maximizing profit or efficiency want to limit (or charge for) access to the Information Superhighway...

HeinOnline Is Blogging!

Posted on January 31, 2008
Need PDF versions of law review articles, sections from the Code of Federal Regulations, or Federal Register pages? Trying to find an older law review article that isn't available on Lexis or Westlaw?  Looking for federal legislative history?  If your answer is "yes" to any of these questions, you need HeinOnline, an online resource available to all USF law students, staff, and faculty...

Memo to Associates: Lose the Uggs!

Posted on January 31, 2008
According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, law firm associates are having a hard time figuring out what to wear to the office. The disgruntled partners interviewed for this story told the WSJ that associates are just not getting that suits are still an essential part of good lawyering...

Westlaw Hornbook & Nutshell Initiative Leaves Law Students Out

Posted on January 29, 2008
ZiefBrief was surprised to learn recently that Westlaw now includes some hornbooks and nutshells. (As of today, there are 7 hornbooks, and 16 nutshells ? a tiny percentage of what's available in print.) ZiefBrief was not at all surprised to discover, when we tried to field test these online nutshells and hornbooks, that they are not included in law school subscription plans...

United Nations Treaty Series - Online and Free

Posted on January 29, 2008
The United Nations has quietly eliminated all access fees for its online U.N. Treaty Series. The U.N. Publications office offers this free access via a generic username and password: Username: treaties Password: 12345 To search the treaties, visit the United Nations Treaty Collection, select "Access to Databases"  (near the bottom of the page), then select "United Nations Treaty Series...

Professor Richard Leo's New Book on Police Interrogation

Posted on January 29, 2008
Professor Richard Leo's new book, Police Interrogation and American Justice, will be available from Harvard University Press in February 2008.  Professor Leo "draws on extensive research to argue that confessions are inherently suspect and that coercive interrogation has led to false confession and wrongful conviction...

Handy Guide to Tackling Multi-State Legal Research

Posted on January 24, 2008
If you practice with an institution that represents clients with national or multi-state business activities, you can be sure that, at some point in your career, you'll be asked to "find the laws relating to X legal issue" in a handful of states...

Will Clients Kill the Billable Hour?

Posted on January 03, 2008
It's no secret that most law firm clients hate the billable hour.  Cisco general counsel Mark Chandler recently had this to say about billing by the hour -- "the most fundamental misalignment of interests is between clients who are driven to manage expenses, and law firms which are compensated by the hour...

New Empirical Legal Studies Bibliography

Posted on December 13, 2007
Researchers who are looking for law-related scholarly articles containing substantive empirical studies -- you're in luck!  The Empirical Legal Studies Bibliography is now open for business.  From the Law Librarian Blog (Dec. 5, 2007): "Not officially launched, but now live is the fabulous Empirical Legal Studies Bibliography...

Secret Searching

Posted on December 11, 2007
Ask.com has just announced that you can keep your searches secret on its search engine.  As of today, search engine users can use the AskEraser, located in the top right-hand corner of the Ask.com home page, to delete all search query records.  According to the SF Chronicle's story on the new feature, the AskEraser will eliminate all of your search queries and any related cookies, including IP address and user ID, from Ask...

Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders: A Human Rights Report

Posted on December 10, 2007
Today ZiefBrief celebrates Human Rights Day by featuring Sentencing our Children to Die in Prison: Global Law and Practice [PDF; 51 pages], a newly-released report from the Center for Law and Global Justice here at USF. The report, co-authored by Professor Connie de la Vega and Michelle Leighton, the Center's Director for Human Rights Programs, deals with the practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole ("LWOP")...

Research Epiphanies

Posted on December 07, 2007
Belle Lettre, who blogs at Law and Letters, has a thoughtful post on her research experiences and the importance of libraries.  She notes that online databases like Lexis, Westlaw, and JSTOR are "not so awesome" and that she's rediscovered the efficiency and usefulness of print resources over the past few months...

USF Professor Honigsgberg Adds Expertise to Guantanamo Coverage

Posted on December 06, 2007
No sooner had USF Law Professor Peter Jan Honigsberg returned from attending the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the Guantanamo Bay detainee cases than he was asked by the local ABC affiliate to comment. Asked if he thought Guantanamo's combatant status review tribunals are fair he said "Absolutely not...

A Date to Celebrate

Posted on December 05, 2007
I'm a big fan of the New York Times' "On This Day" feature, and as an oenophile, I found today's legal history entry particularly meaningful.  On December 5, 1933, national Prohibition came to an end when Utah ratified the Twenty-First Amendment...

Guantanamo Bay Detainees Cases Heard by the Supreme Court

Posted on December 05, 2007
Intense interest in the Guantanamo detainees' cases of Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195) and Al Odah v. U.S. (06-1196) has led the United States Supreme Court to take the rare step of releasing the audio file of today?s oral argument immediately after the argument...

Lexpionage

Posted on November 26, 2007
Want to know what "precrimination" means?  Or how about "glamping" or "stoozing"?  The Word Spy site tracks usage of new words and phrases in popular media, supplying definitions and examples of how the new word has been used in recent media sources...

Something To Be Thankful For

Posted on November 19, 2007
Westlaw decided to give all legal researchers something to be deeply thankful for this month.  After listening to librarians' pleas for easier access to West Key Numbers on Westlaw for years, West has finally acquiesced, and you can now find a link to West Key Numbers on the main menu at the top of the Westlaw legal research screen...

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