Legal Research

Gulf Drilling Moratorium Struck Down

Posted on June 22, 2010
A New Orleans federal judge has lifted the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by President Barack Obama following the largest oil spill in U.S. history.  The ruling in the case of Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar, 2:10-cv-01663, U...

Circuit Riders Move Through The State

Posted on June 17, 2010
South Carolina law librarians Terrye Conroy and David Lehmann continue on their journey through the state as they hit another Judicial Circuit.  On June 11, 2010,  following their presentation at Winthrop in the 16th Judicial Circuit,  gave another presentation to Trident Technical College (9th Judicial Circuit) in  North Charleston, SC to a mixed group of [...

Bluebook nerds rejoice in newest edition!

Posted on June 15, 2010
The 19th edition of the Bluebook has been published and we Bluebook nerds are poring over it.  The new edition is almost 100 pages longer than the previous edition.  There are major changes in at least one important area, which had been (IMHO) an area of weakness — the citation of internet, electronic media, and [...

Circuit Riders Arrive at Winthrop University

Posted on June 10, 2010
The Circuit Riders Outreach Program is on the move again. On Friday, May 28th, 2010, USC law librarians Terrye Conroy and David Lehmann visited the Winthrop University?s Dacus Library for a day-long program teaching both academic and public librarians about legal research issues, databases, and general primary law materials...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Cat Scratch Fever

Posted on June 09, 2010
The news is frequently full of stories of dogs behaving badly, but a 2008 Connecticut case is a tale of two kitties. Plaintiff was injured while trying to protect her cat from the neighborhood fighting tom. Defendants denied responsibility because, while they knew their cat was aggressive toward other cats, they didn’t know [...

Calling all Bluebook nerds!

Posted on June 08, 2010
When you use The Bluebook do you think, ?Why did the editors do this??  Now law librarians, at least, will have a chance to ask those questions.   The program ?The Bluebook: An Open Discussion Among Editors and Librarians? will be held at the AALL Annual Meeting, on Sunday, July 11, 1:30 pm ? 2:45 pm, [...

New Law Review Blog

Posted on May 31, 2010
Here is an interesting concept; a law review blog.  The Legal Workshop – http://legalworkshop.org/   aggregates the work of member law reviews, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, NYU, Northwestern, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. The Legal Workshop is able to provide updated content more frequently than standard law review publications...

Friday fun!

Posted on May 21, 2010
Betty White as a librarian – or rather, an elementary school “media specialist,” as they are called now – in an episode of The Middle. [PRM]

Looking for Government Statistics on the Web?

Posted on May 17, 2010
There are numerous places to find government statistics on  the web.  Try some of the following if you are looking for stats. - http://www.fedstats.gov/. This site has statistics from more than 100 agencies available; - http://www.stat-usa.gov/.  The U...

Interested in New Supreme Court Nominee

Posted on May 11, 2010
If you are interested in learning more about the new Supreme Court Nominee Ellen Kagan or want to follow the progress of the nomination check out this website  at the University of Michigan, http://www.law.umich.edu/library/info/kagan/Pages/default.aspx, managed by  reference librarian Kincaid Brown...

Bar exam apps for smartphones

Posted on May 05, 2010
Just in time for bar exam season, the current issue of the ABA Journal has an article about several companies that are offering bar exam apps for the iPhone.  BarMax, BAR/BRI, and Emanual Bar Review offer downloadable  bar exam prep applications.  Portability is key...

The Circuit Riders Visit Greenville County Library

Posted on May 05, 2010
We had a record number of workshop participants in Greenville last Friday! Librarians came from four different Greenville County branch locations. Their law library, located on the second floor of the main Hughes Library in downtown Greenville, was moved from the courthouse a few years ago...

My Little Pony

Posted on May 04, 2010
Ever heard of the “three pony rule” of determining child support? It stands for the premise that, while children have a right to share in the lifestyle of their parents, the amount of child support set should have a rational and reasonable relation to the realistic needs of the child...

Cyberlaw Blawg

Posted on May 03, 2010
For those of you who follow Cyber law,  like myself,  here is a good blawg. It comes to me from Inter-alia (http://www.inter-alia.net/) which monitors blawgs and keeps me advised on what the current trend is in legal cyber law decisions. Cyberlaw Cases (http://cyberlawcases...

A word to the wise during exams

Posted on April 28, 2010
Study, but don’t “overstudy.” Harvard Law School flashback from 1900: Student goes insane during Con Law Final, Dies from ?Overstudy? [PRM]

Attention: Foreign Law Fans!

Posted on April 28, 2010
Check out this article in the European Journal of Law and Technology. Its author, Graham Greenleaf, is a Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales and Co-Director of the Australasian Legal Information Institute. His article traces the development of global access to free legal information...

World Bank Data free

Posted on April 22, 2010
The World Bank has made its data sources free to the public at this web site:  http://data.worldbank.org The new web site includes World Development Indicators, whose entire contents were previously only available by subscription.  As the World Bank notes in its press release, this new site “also opens up the Global Development Finance, Africa Development Indicators, [...

Tax Court rejects ?Geithner defense?

Posted on April 21, 2010
Tax season is over, but if you are worried about your tax returns and planning to use the “Geithner defense” should you be audited, the news is not good.  In Lam v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2010-82 (Apr. 19, 2010), the U.S. Tax Court specifically held that blaming TurboTax for errors on her return did not [...

Circuit Riders Visits Aiken

Posted on April 20, 2010
The USC-Aiken campus was beautiful last Friday with everything in bloom. Their Gregg-Graniteville Library was also very inviting. We conducted our Legal Research for Non-Law Librarians workshop in the library’s nicely-equipped computer lab on the second floor...

Looking for Space: Free Online Storage

Posted on April 19, 2010
For those of us who are constantly running out of room for storage or who want to be able to access you documents remotely, think about an online storage site. Here is a list of sites that are all FREE and will allow you to store and access your material...

Big Research Hint

Posted on April 16, 2010
Here’s another one from the Department of Things You Shouldn’t Have to Be Told:”  Don’t rely on cases that do not contain the propositions that you are arguing before the court. A California appeals court found it necessary to make this point when one of its parties did just that...

Legal Talk Network ? A collaborative forum

Posted on April 13, 2010
For those of you looking for a place for new information or discussion of legal issues and practice tips checkout the Legal Talk Network, http://legaltalknetwork.com/  The Legal Talk Network contains podcasts on a variety of legal practice.  It contains news on technology and discussions by legal experts on new Supreme Court cases and other information [...

It?s National Library Week

Posted on April 12, 2010
Libraries across South Carolina need your support this week! This week is National Library Week, a perfect time for you to send a quick e-mail to you state legislators and governor to let them know how important libraries are to you! Libraries are in a perfect storm...

Power to the Peeps!

Posted on April 09, 2010
Every spring, the ABA invites submissions to its law-related Peeps diorama contest.  Check out the top 5 “Peeps in Law” dioramas submitted in this year’s contest and vote for your favorite here.   [PRM]

FCC Cannot Regulate the Internet

Posted on April 06, 2010
For those of you interested in the regulation of the Internet, here is an interesting decision. In Comcast Corp. v. FCC, the court considered whether the FCC could bar Comcast from interfering with its customers’ use of peer-to-peer networking applications...

Circuit Riders in Florence

Posted on March 31, 2010
Another Friday on the rode and you could have knocked me over with a feather when we drove up to the Florence County Library Headquarters. Thanks to the generosity of the Doctors Bruce and Lee Foundation, Florence is sporting a gorgeous new library that will soon include a law collection from the courthouse law library...

International Law Digest Available Online

Posted on March 30, 2010
The Department of State announced today that many of the volumes of the Digest of United States Practice in International Law are now online. The State department website has volumes covering 1989 -1990; 1991 to 1999; and individual volumes from 2000 to 2008...

A Conversation with Roberta Shaffer, Law Librarian of Congress

Posted on March 19, 2010
Today at 3pm Eastern time on The Law Librarian on blogtalkradio, the Law Librarian of Congress, Roberta Shaffer, will share some exciting new initiatives at the law library, including  the One World Law Library digital depository (OWLL) and her vision for the future of the Law Library of Congress and legal information and libraries generally...

Tomorrow: 5th Annual Sunshine Week Webcast

Posted on March 18, 2010
The Building Governmental Transparency webcast event is scheduled for 2pm tomorrow. Listen to experts from inside and outside government discuss the Obama administration’s Open Government Directive, Memorandum on Freedom of Information Act, Attorney General Guidelines, and Data...

An Improved PACER?

Posted on March 18, 2010
This week, the Judicial Conference of the United States approved steps to improve public access to federal courts by “increasing the availability of court opinions and expanding the services and reducing the costs for many users of the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER) system...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.