Legal Research

PACER as a Profit Center

Posted on April 08, 2009
In FY 2006, PACER earned after costs approximately $30 million in fees from electronic public access. In Selling the Law: The Business of Public Access to Court Records, two Berkman Center fellows, Stephen Schultze and Shubham Mukherjee, present a critique...

On the Ideological Effects in Published Versus Unpublished Judicial Opinions

Posted on April 08, 2009
Hat tip to Paul Lomio (Stanford) for calling attention to An Analysis of Ideological Effects in Published Versus Unpublished Judicial Opinions by Denise M. Keele, Robert W. Malmsheimer, Donald W. Floyd and Lianjun Zhang which was published in the March...

CALI Webinar: Tools for Engaging Classroom Laptop Users

Posted on April 08, 2009
CALI has posted a timely video that describes two online tools (CALI Instapoll and Google Moderator) that instructors can use to help engage those in the classroom that are using laptops.

Lecture Bloopers Videotaped and Distributed on YouTube

Posted on April 08, 2009
The Chronicle and ABA Journal report on embarrassing YouTube moments when class lectures are videotaped and distributed on YouTube. The solution seems easy enough. Edit the videos and/or distribute them from a password-protected launch page. [JH]

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Jonesing for Law School Rankings?

Posted on April 08, 2009
Experiencing law school rankings withdrawal because US News' traditional March publication date has been pushed back to April 23 this year? Well Avvo has added its own law school rankings to the genre. The site ranks law schools that produce...

County Prison Library Goes Digital

Posted on April 08, 2009
In what seems to be a continuing trend the Blair County (PA) prison library is going to an all digital format according to this report from WJACtv.com. This is not surprising but a couple of things the article and accompanying...

Computer Programming in Legal Scholarly Research

Posted on April 07, 2009
Law professors should make greater use of computer programming to conduct various kinds of scholarly research, argues Professor Paul Ohm of University of Colorado Law School, in his new article, Computer Programming and the Law: A New Research Agenda, forthcoming...

Google's "Evil Talk:" Hoofnagle on Reforming Google's Privacy Rhetoric

Posted on April 07, 2009
Hoofnagle's analysis of hundreds of news articles shows that Google?s privacy rhetoric generally lacks substance. "It most frequently uses hackneyed messaging that is optimized to affect consumer biases, encouraging them to assume that the company will do the right thing...

Danner on the Red Cross Torture Report

Posted on April 07, 2009
In reviewing the ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody the New York Review of Books, Mark Danner reaches the following conclusions: Beginning in the spring of 2002 the United States government began to...

March Issue of AALL E-Bulletin Now Available

Posted on April 07, 2009
From the Table of Contents for the March Edition: AALL Launches New Advocacy Toolkit for Members and Chapters Federal Bill Tracking Guide for March 2009 AALL Applauds Attorney General Holder?s New Memo on Freedom of Information Act President Obama Issues...

Opening: Special Projects Librarian, O?Quinn Law Library at the University of Houston Law Center

Posted on April 07, 2009
The O?Quinn Law Library at the University of Houston Law Center seeks a highly motivated and service oriented person with drive for a Special Projects Librarian. Responsibilities: The duties of the Special Projects librarian include: budget process support and analysis,...

Help Wanted: Ghost Twitterers

Posted on April 07, 2009
Shaquille O?Neal writes his own tweets but IT guru Guy Kawasaki doesn't and Britney Spears is desparately seeking a Twitter ghostwriter. In When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking, Noam Cohen writes, "The famous, of course, have turned to...

How did LexisNexis and Westlaw corner the market on legal information?

Posted on April 07, 2009
For an answer to this question, Paul Lomio (Stanford) recommends chapters 14 and 15 of antitrust lawyer Gary L. Reback's new book, Free the Market: Why Only Government Can Keep the Marketplace Competitive, to be released on April 16. Lomio...

Copyright Act Section 104A Held to Violate First Amendment

Posted on April 07, 2009
In a high-profile case respecting the public domain, a federal district court held on April 3 that Section 104A of the Copyright Act, also known as Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), violates the First Amendment, insofar...

Is Google Buying Twitter?

Posted on April 06, 2009
Mark Giangrande (DePaul) is reporting on rumors that Google may be buying Twitter. "The biggest question seems whether Twitter users will abandon the site if Google becomes the owner. The same question came up when Google bought YouTube. As it...

Show Us the Data: The Top Ten Most Wanted Government Documents

Posted on April 06, 2009
Last month, OpenTheGovernment.org and CDT released "Show Us the Data: Most Wanted Federal Documents", a report based on the results of a web based survey. The report cites documents and data that the federal government should make easier to find...

ACLU Releases Comprehensive Report On Patriot Act Abuses

Posted on April 06, 2009
The American Civil Liberties Union released a comprehensive report entitled Reclaiming Patriotism, which examines the widespread abuses that have occurred under the USA Patriot Act. In the almost eight years since the passage of the controversial national security law, the...

AG Holder's New FOIA Guideline Receive Positive Reception in Court

Posted on April 06, 2009
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is reporting that Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California granted EFF's motion to stay a proceeding and to order the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of....

GPO FY 2008 Annual Report

Posted on April 06, 2009
GPO has released the agency's FY 2008 annual report entitled, "GPO Sustainable Environmental Stewardship: Good Business. Good Government." The report details another year of increased revenue for the agency, as GPO continues to thrive by achieving a fifth consecutive year...

Opening: Reference/National Security & International Commerce Librarian, George Washington University Law School Library

Posted on April 06, 2009
The George Washington University Law School, Jacob Burns Law Library seeks a reference librarian to specialize in national security and international commercial law. Responsibilities include providing reference and research assistance to library patrons; participating in collection development for materials relating...

Kudos to UB Law's Elizabeth Adelman and Joe Gerken

Posted on April 06, 2009
SUNY-Buffalo will be saluting more than 80 faculty and staff authors at a reception this afternoon including two of their law librarians: Elizabeth G. Adelman for her ?New York Legal Research? and Joe Gerken for his ?What Good is Legislative...

A Visual Guide to GM's Fall

Posted on April 05, 2009
In recent weeks, GM has been making a last-ditch effort to deal with its mounting problems and somehow escape bankruptcy despite making unrealistic forecasts for auto sales. The final outcome of remains to be seen, but any bailout efforts or...

White House Issues White Paper on Afghanistan and Pakistan

Posted on April 05, 2009
Recently, the President announced a comprehensive, new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan that is the culmination of a careful 60-day, interagency strategic review. The White House has issued a white paper summarizing it's recommendations for an "effective democratic government control...

New Report Card: Nation?s Mental Health Care System

Posted on April 04, 2009
The National Alliances on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released a new report, Grading the States, assessing the nation?s public mental health care system for adults and finding that the national average grade is a D. Fourteen states improved their grades...

Is the Labor Market for Lawyers This Bad?

Posted on April 03, 2009
Bleak news for law school students. Firms are delaying hiring dates, rescinding employment offers and cutting back on their summer programs. So if you know someone who wants to be a lawyer, perhaps it's time to sue someone to get...

Guide to Social Media Use for Law Schools and Their Students

Posted on April 03, 2009
Apparently many law school career services departments are telling students not to blog about their law school experiences. Why? Information about their online identity could be used against them in job interviews (or the schools find the content to be...

What are Librarians Worried About? Jobs and Training

Posted on April 03, 2009
The Chronicle ran an interesting story entitled, Librarians Confront New Uncertainties Over Training and Jobs. The article discuses how the recent economic crisis might affect future job prospects and what skills are essential for tomorrow's librarians...

Facebook Demographics

Posted on April 03, 2009
Inside Facebook reports that the number of US users over 35 have nearly doubled in the last 60 days. With this rapid growth amongst older users, the majority of US Facebook users are now over 25. [JH]

April Issue of AALL Spectrum Online

Posted on April 03, 2009
The April issue of AALL Spectrum is available online in PDF format. This month?s articles feature: tips for researching international human rights law a first-hand look at legal research and library science in China using the wiki concept to solve...

OT But Cool: The Worldwide Telescope

Posted on April 03, 2009
Called the WorldWide Telescope, Microsoft and NASA are making planetary images and data available via a downloadable app ported through the Web. More at Cnet's Look through Microsoft's Telescope on the Web. Perfect for (extended) coffee breaks. [JH]

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