Legal Research

It?s Open Access Week

Posted on October 20, 2010
To learn about the events of Open Access Week and the global Open Access movement, visit the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) website. Did you know there is an Open Access Law Program (OAL Program), which is part of the Science Commons publishing project?  To read about the OAL Program and its principles, and to view a [...

Copyright Renewal Database

Posted on October 19, 2010
Copyright law is a tangled web of rules. One of the most complicated is the determination of whether a works is in the public domain or still in copyright. The general rule of copyright of the author plus seventy years does not apply in certain circumstances to materials published before 1964...

Documents of the Founding Fathers to go online

Posted on October 14, 2010
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grantmaking arm of the National Archives, has announced a cooperative agreement with The University of Virginia (UVA) Press to make freely available online the historical documents of the Founders of the United States of America...

British and Irish Legal Information Institute

Posted on October 11, 2010
For those of you familiar with Cornell?s Legal Information Institute here is the English version. British and Irish Legal Information Institute (http://www.bailii.org/). BAILII, has the latest British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material...

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Define Hornswoggle

Posted on October 07, 2010
In 1926, a Texas appellate court referred to the definition of the word “hornswoggle” in the Webster’s unabridged dictionary and held that, absent appearances to the contrary, a jury could be assumed to attach the proper meaning to the word [U...

New Document Search Engine

Posted on October 05, 2010
Looking for a specific document or type of document on the on the Internet? Do you want it in a foreign language? There is a new website that will search specifically for these types of materials. EdocZA (http://www.edocza.com/) is a search engine for documents...

International Environmental Treaty Resource

Posted on September 30, 2010
Looking for international environmental treaty information? Visit ENTRI, the Environmental Treaties Resource Indicators site. Funded by NASA and operated by Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network, ENTRI is a cooperative project of academic, conservation, and research organizations...

Free Online Resources Website

Posted on September 24, 2010
If you are looking for free resources that are available on the web, including databases, lists and rankings, and multimedia, then check out the resource shelf. (http://web.resourceshelf.com/) This website is constantly updating new free material on the web...

Happy Constitution Day

Posted on September 17, 2010
To celebrate, learn more about it by visiting the American Bar Association?s Constitution Day website. While you?re there, test your knowledge by taking the Constitution Quiz, and if you?d like, sign your name to the Constitution. (Post-TC)

The Ties That Bind

Posted on September 15, 2010
Would you be surprised to learn that a party can’t enter into an agreement, perform according to the agreement, and then declare that it never intended to be bound by the agreement?  The Seventh Circuit didn’t buy it, either, noting, “...

THOMAS Looks Different!

Posted on September 15, 2010
The Law Librarians of Congress have been busy improving the THOMAS website. In addition to the many new social media features, they have also added a State Legislature Websites page, complete with an interactive map. If this is news to you, you might want to check out their new In Custodia Legis blog...

9th Circuit Undercuts First Sale Doctrine for Software

Posted on September 13, 2010
On September 10, 2010 the 9th Circuit decided Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., No. 09-35969 (9th Cir. 2010).  This decision is a blow to an essential copyright legal principle known as the ?First sale doctrine.?  The first sale doctrine is a legal theory that allows purchasers of copyrighted material, in this case software, to assert as [...

Creating your own success

Posted on September 08, 2010
There was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth after the most recent U.S. News law school rankings came out, showing that the University of South Carolina School of Law had dropped into the 3rd tier of law schools – no longer ranked individually, but merely listed with other unremarkable peers...

New Free International Law Resource on the Web

Posted on September 07, 2010
The International Law Library, launched yesterday by Justice Sir Kenneth Keith of the International Court of Justice, offers free access to treaties, decisions and transcripts from the ICJ and ICC, decisions of numerous human rights tribunals, UN documents, and much more...

Legal Cite Saver for Google Scholar

Posted on September 07, 2010
For those of you that don?t already know it there are a lot of good free legal search engines for cases on the internet. One of them, Google Scholar has really been working on their legal database (See November 19th, 2009 post) to make it a good place to do free basic legal research...

Judicial Notice of Horseplay

Posted on September 06, 2010
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire, in 1944, noted that “it is common knowledge to everyone who employs labor that workmen are apt to indulge in a moment’s diversion from work to joke with or play a prank upon a fellow workman.” Read all about it in Maltais v...

New Law Student Guide to Free Legal Research

Posted on August 30, 2010
I am thrilled to share with you a new website designed to assist law students with navigating the free Web. The  Law Student Guide to Free Legal Research on the Internet   is sponsored by the Free Law Coalition, comprised of Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII) and Justia, and is hosted by CALI...

Wish I?d Said That!

Posted on August 25, 2010
Can a drunk person give a valid confession? The Court of Appeals of Kentucky said yes, except in extreme circumstances, stating “If we accept the confessions of the stupid, there is no good reason not to accept those of the drunk.” Read all about it in Britt v...

New Federal Regulations Blog-Website

Posted on August 24, 2010
Jerry Brito, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University has developed a new blog/website, OpenRegs.com [http://openregs.com/home]   This website tracks federal regulations daily. It also has several features not available at the official government site www...

Advice to new law students

Posted on August 16, 2010
Incoming 1Ls have probably been getting advice from everyone they meet about how to succeed (or at least survive) the fabled first year of law school.  A poster to the Lawyerist blog makes her recommendations, which – not surprisingly – are to do a moderate amount of preparation and partying...

Movie Exemptions for Anti-circumvention Copyright Rule

Posted on August 13, 2010
On July 26th, 2010 the Librarian of Congress issued an exemption on six classes works that will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls under 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1). See http://www.copyright.gov/1201 for the full determination...

Preparing to ride the wave

Posted on August 10, 2010
A blog that focuses on business & law, “The Conglomerate,” predicts that mergers & acquisitions will be a booming area of legal practice in the near future.  Students who want to avoid the fate of hundreds (if not thousands) of recent grads who are unemployed or under-employed would be well advised to take courses that [...

?Web 2.0? version of the daily Federal Register

Posted on August 03, 2010
The National Archives Office of the Federal Register and GPO have launched FR 2.0. [http://www.federalregister.gov.] The site was established to mark the 75th anniversary of the Federal Register Act on July 26, 2010. The site displays a prototype of a ?Web 2...

Dark Side of Sticky Notes

Posted on July 29, 2010
As we enter the final sprint of summer catching up and gear up for the start of the fall semester, we may all be stocking up on Post-Its, the ubiquitous little sticky note sheets that have become so indispensable.   I confess to being addicted myself and to having Post-Its in lots of different sizes and [...

E-Book Conversion Tool

Posted on July 26, 2010
Inter-Alia is always giving out such useful information. Thanks to Tom Mighell for putting it out. [www.inter-alia.net] It is full of legal resources, tech tools, and practice tools for lawyers and librarians. Here is a great app from him for all of you eBook readers...

?New Spice? guy comments on libraries

Posted on July 16, 2010
[Post-PRM;DEL]

Responses to the ?comforting words? on the bar exam

Posted on July 15, 2010
The Volohk Conspiracy discusses responses by Richard Epstein and John Yoo to Elizabeth Wurtzel’s critique of the bar exam, linked in the previous post.  Interesting comments. [PRM]

Just in time! Advice and comforting thoughts about the bar exam!

Posted on July 13, 2010
The advice, from Ann Althouse’s blog.  Write short sentences. The comforting words, even if you don’t believe them.  “All the best people fail the bar exam.” [PRM]

Not Reading a Website?s Terms Of Service Shouldn?t Make You A Criminal

Posted on July 07, 2010
Raise your hands if you read every word of a website’s terms of service?  I thought so.  Hardly anyone.  Well,  there are several recent cases that use the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to turn actions like not reading (& therefore not complying in every detail with)  a website’s terms of use into crimes...

Supreme Court Extended The Right To Keep And Bear Arms To All 50 States.

Posted on June 30, 2010
If for some reason you missed all of the excitement,  on Monday June 28, 2010,  the Supreme Court in McDonald v. City of Chicago, No. 08-1521, ___U.S.___ (2010) extended the federally protected right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states. The decision nullifies a Chicago ordinance banning ownership of handguns...

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