Legal Research

On "WestSearch" from Bob Ambrogi's First Look at WestlawNext

Posted on January 26, 2010
Bob Ambrogi offers his first take on WestlawNext. Snips from his comments on the new SE, called "WestSearch," under my captions, are highlighted below. Do check out Bob's blog post for more details on the new search engine and WestlawNext...

Dick Spinelli Will Never Retire

Posted on January 25, 2010
Of late, I have been in contact with Hein staffers colleagues about business and, of course, Dick Spinelli became a topic of conversation. "Dick will never retire." In fact, if you look at the Company's by-laws, I think you will...

Cheech & Chong and WestlawNext (Or Why I Like Cobalt's Offical Name and Never Intended to Besmirch Stoner Comedic Geniuses)

Posted on January 25, 2010
As previously mentioned, Cobalt will be branded "WestlawNext." It was supposed to be "top secret" but many outside Eagan have know about it for some time now. In my previous post, I mentioned that the name was so Cheech &...

Librarian, Better Job than Federal Judge or Attorney, Not as Good as Paralegal

Posted on January 25, 2010
At 46th place, a librarian job ranked higher than a gig as a federal judge (ranked 63) or attorneys (80) but lower than paralegal jobs which ranked as the seventh best job to have in CareerCast's Ranking of 200 Jobs...

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Opening: Librarian (Head), Connecticut Legislative Library

Posted on January 25, 2010
Connecticut General Assembly seeks a head librarian for its Legislative Library, providing professional nonpartisan assistance to legislators and staff. Successful candidate will participate in and oversee all aspects of library operations including reference, collection development, budgeting, supervision, evaluation, training, marketing,...

NARA Says No More Tourist Photography of Founding Documents

Posted on January 25, 2010
The National Archives and Records Administration has published a final rule in today's Federal Register that bans photography, filming, and videotaping of exhibits in the National Archives Building in Washington. The popular documents that draw tourists and their devices are...

Damage Control for eReader Content Competition: Kindle Content Providers to Get Larger Royalities But With Strings Attached

Posted on January 25, 2010
Amazon is offering increased royalties on Kindle book sales but with some interesting strings attached. Starting in June, royalities will increase to 70% of list price (net of delivery costs). 70% sounds like a hugh increase since content providers now...

The 3 Facebook Settings Every [Facebook] User Should Check Now

Posted on January 25, 2010
I've read a lot about this topic since Facebook changed its privacy policies in December. A New York Times article, The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now, does a nice job of summarizing actions you need to take...

Enclosing the Commons of the Mind

Posted on January 24, 2010
Ray Bradbury?s 1953 classic, Fahrenheit 451, once slated for being in the public domain on January 1, 2010 will not enter the public domain until 2049 because copyright laws has changed. From the Public Domain post: But the legal changes...

Exploiting the Surveillance Infrastructure: Did the Federal Government Inadvertently Aid China Hacking into Google?

Posted on January 24, 2010
Apparently, the answer is "yes," according to Bruce Schneier. In CNN story titled U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google, Schneier writes "In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail...

Call for Papers for the Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition

Posted on January 23, 2010
The Legal History and Rare Books Special Interest Section, in cooperation with Gale Cengage Learning, has issued its call of papers for the second annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition. Entries must be submitted by midnight, April 15, 2010...

Friday Fun: Spring of Death Not Distroyed!

Posted on January 22, 2010
It's the heroic space-escapades of Buck Jupiter, dynamic Space Lawyer and all round swashbuckling space- adventurer. Here Buck Jupiter makes an appearance in Space Court. [JH]

From Soup to Nuts: Setting an Example for Informing Law Students with Bar Prep Resources

Posted on January 22, 2010
Cleveland-Marshall's recently updated Bar Exam Resources Guide is an excellent example of providing all law school students, not just 3Ls, with information they need to plan their course selections and related bar exam preparation matters. About the 8 web page...

Are You Using Google Wave, Yet?

Posted on January 22, 2010
Google Wave's web-based collaboration tool to manage projects, swap files and communicate in real-time is notoriously difficult to understand and use. Greg Lambert writes "Wave is a great idea that is wrapped in a frame of confusion" in If I...

"For Dummies" Version of Properties of the United States Code Citation Network Needed!

Posted on January 22, 2010
Hat tip to Paul Lomio, Legal Research Plus, for calling attention to Properties of the United States Code Citation Network [SSRN] by Michael James Bommarito II and Daniel Martin Katz. I gave it my best shot during the holidays but...

Will students soon be texting research requests to librarians?

Posted on January 22, 2010
That's the question posed by this column from Inside Higher Ed: As students raised on text-messaging begin to populate the halls of academe, a number of libraries have begun making their reference librarians reachable not just via e-mail and live...

Does your password make the top 10 list of most "hack-able?"

Posted on January 22, 2010
If your password is on the list below, a recent study suggests that you're providing an open invitation to be hacked: 123456 12345 123456789 Password iloveyou princess rockyou 1234567 12345678 abc123 The consulting firm Imperva has compiled this list based...

How Dumb (or Smart) Is Your State?

Posted on January 22, 2010
Mainstreet.com, which is part of TheStreet.com ranks states in various categories. Some of these rankings are whimsical, such as the ten drunkest states (New Hampshire is more than the first presidential primary, apparently), and the least drunkest state (Utah, go...

Judge Reduces Damages in Thomas-Rasset File Sharing Case

Posted on January 22, 2010
In a preview of what might come in the Joel Tenenbaum case, the Judge in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case, the only other file sharing case to go to trial, was shocked, shocked, he said, over the damages awarded by the...

Taxpayers' Pick Up the Tab for DOJ's Legal Search: Over $15 Million for WEXIS and PACER

Posted on January 21, 2010
Per a FOIA request by Carl Malamud, the DOJ disclosed that it spent more than $15 million for legal research last year. The DOJ responded on its own behalf as well as on behalf of the DEA and the Office...

When It's Been Done So Poorly for So Long, Isn't It About Time to Rethink How Law Schools Teach Legal Research?

Posted on January 21, 2010
It's common knowledge to quote Sarah Valentine, Legal Research Coordinator and Associate Law Library Professor and CUNY School of Law, that most law schools provide "legal research instruction that is not only ineffective in teaching basic research skills but is...

Two Predictions for This Decade

Posted on January 21, 2010
Greg Lambert offered up some very interesting predictions for 2010 earlier this year. I think he's "on the money" for the first nine and hope number 10 comes true too -- "3 Geeks and a Law Blog Cuts Multi-Million Dollar...

Format Content Online to Look Like an eReader

Posted on January 21, 2010
Give your eyes a break by re-formatting online content into the simple format used by eReaders like the Kindle. Save a bookmarklet like Readability to your browser (drag and drop the link into your browser's bookmarks, and click on Readability...

New York Times pounders charging for online content

Posted on January 21, 2010
The party may be over if you, like me, have become accustom to reading the New York Times for free on the internet. The Washington Post is reporting that: Chairman Arthur Sulzberger is close to announcing that the paper will...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Campaign Spending Law

Posted on January 21, 2010
The Supreme Court struck down the portion of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that prohibited corporations and unions from spending as much money as they want to influence advocate in an election. The vote was 5-4. The opinion is here....

Facebook CEO says "Privacy is no longer a social norm"

Posted on January 21, 2010
The 25 year old billionaire and founder of the world's largest soclal networking website declared at the Crunchie Awards in San Francisco that: 'People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and...

One iPod Touch Per Librarian

Posted on January 21, 2010
A colleague pointed out a post on Eric Rumsey's Seeing the Picture blog called A Mobile Modest Proposal: One iPod Touch Per Librarian (OITPL). Rumsey agrees with others that we are emerging from the "iPod Decade" but also acknowledges librarything.com...

Law Library GPS wins LibVid Award for Best Narration

Posted on January 21, 2010
My very talented colleagues, Karen Spencer and Nefeli Soteriou, created a law library tour video, "Law Library GPS," that won the LibVid Award for best narration. To avoid confusion, note that LibVid took the liberty of renaming the video "Never...

I Found It on the Internet, Your Honor

Posted on January 21, 2010
The case of Woodward v. Commissioner, a summary decision from Tax Court, is worth reading because of the way Google and legal research standards figure into the outcome of the decision. The facts involve a taxpayer who received approximately $150,000...

Cobalt's Name is WestlawNext (But You Didn't Hear That From Me)

Posted on January 21, 2010
Since publication of yesterday's post, Cobalt is Hot, Icy Hot, the Flickr photo links have been set to private. Others not linked in the post also set to private. Why? It's fairly common knowledge that the powers that control West...

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