Legal Research

Kevin Miles (DALL Past-President) Has a New Column in Spectrum

Posted on September 16, 2019
Congratulations to Kevin Miles on his new AALL Spectrum column: Practical Competitive Intelligence! Kevin begins his column by "Breaking Down the Basics."https://www.aallnet.org/spectrum_article/practical-competitive-intelligence-breaking-down-the-basics/ (You may need to log in to access...

AALL Joint Social

Posted on July 12, 2019
For those of you attending AALL, don?t forget to join your DALL colleagues and HALL/SWALL/UNT at the joint reception this Sunday from 6-7:30 p.m.

DALL Resolution Endorses Enactment of UELMA in Texas

Posted on March 07, 2019
Once again, DALL's executive board formally adopted a resolution to support adoption of UELMA in Texas!What is UELMA?The Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act ("UELMA") seeks to ensure that online official state legal material -- namely constitutions, session laws, codified laws, and regulations are unaltered, preserved, and permanently available to the public...

SJSU School of Information offers a free Blockchain MOOC

Posted on March 07, 2019
As you know, a MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course. San Jose State University School of Information will be hosting a six-week MOOC, Blockchain and Decentralization for the Information Industry, March 11?April 21, 2019. Registration is free and requires a few hours a week of lecture...

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Texas Internet Service in Disaster Areas

Posted on February 12, 2019
Representative R.D. "Bobby" Guerra introduced H.B. 1426 on February 6, 2019 to amend Texas Government Code 418.194 to prevent reducing mobile Internet service in a disaster area.Learn more about Representative Guerra and his current bills.Track H...

Monitoring Texas Legislature Bills Regarding Day Light Savings Time

Posted on December 23, 2018
If you are tired of Daylight Savings Time, you are in good company.Texas State Senator Jose Menendez pre-filed SB 190 and Texas State Representative Lyle Larson pre-filed HB 49 in the 2019 Legislature (86th Leg.) to formally exempt Texas from the Uniform Time Act of 1966...

DALL President Jenny Wondracek in ABA Journal

Posted on December 19, 2018
Check out the ABA article featuring DALL President Jennifer Wondracek!!! Professor Wondracek is bringing The Matrix to law school!The MatrixHow are law schools using virtual reality tools in classrooms?http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/virtual_reality_augments_law_school_curricula/

CFTC Request for Information about Crypto-Asset Mechanics and Markets

Posted on December 17, 2018
The CFTC has posed 25 questions under five categories to better understand Crypto Currencies and Markets.Please submit your comments before February 15, 2019.You may submit comments, identified by the title, ??Virtual Currency RFI,?? by any of the following methods:CFTC website: https://comments...

LabCFTC released a new Primer on Smart Contracts

Posted on December 04, 2018
LabCFTC is the focal point for the CFTC?s efforts to promote responsible financial technology (FinTech) innovation and fair competition for the benefit of the American public. LabCFTC is the hub for the agency?s engagement with the FinTech innovation community...

How will an alert from Congress.gov display in my email?

Posted on November 05, 2018
Setting alerts is a new feature requiring that you set up a free account in order to receive notifications of changes in a Congressional Bill. Click on the images below to expand them for better readabilityTo set an alert, first find your bill, then click Get Alerts...

ABA Formal Opinion 483. Lawyers? Obligations After an Electronic Data Breach or Cyberattack

Posted on October 18, 2018
On October 17, 2018, the American Bar Association issued Formal Opinion 483, Lawyers? Obligations After an Electronic Data Breach or Cyberattack, which addresses the duties and obligations to inform clients when a data breach or cyberattack occurs...

Proposed Federal Court Rules Amendments Published for Public Comment

Posted on August 15, 2018
The US Courts wants your input to rule changes!The Judicial Conference Advisory Committees on Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Evidence Rules published proposed amendments to their respective rules, and requested that the proposals be circulated to the bench, bar, and public for comment...

Private Investment Project Procedures. New Changes for P3s

Posted on June 01, 2018
The Federal Transit Administration has made substantive changes in a final rule describing new, experimental procedures to encourage increased project management flexibility, more innovation in project funding, improved efficiency, timely project implementation, and new project revenue streams for public transportation capital projects...

SEC Action Lookup ? Individuals

Posted on May 03, 2018
 The SEC offers a new research tool; SEC Action Lookup - Individuals, or "SALI." Search for individuals who have been named in SEC administrative proceedings, or SEC federal court actions.Features:At this point the scope is October 1, 2014 to March 31, 2018...

Guidance on the impact of SAS on AIA trial proceedings

Posted on April 27, 2018
The PTAB will host a ?Chat with the Chief? webinar on Monday, April 30, 2018, from noon to 1 p.m. ET to discuss the SAS decision, its impacts on AIA trial proceedings, and answer questions.Guidance on the impact of SAS issued April 26, 2018https://www...

The USPTO wants your comments about patent "claim elements"

Posted on April 20, 2018
Since the Berkheimer decision ( CAFC, 2017-1437, February 8, 2018), there has been a lot of discussion about claim elements. The comment period is open until August 20, 2018. The USPTO will receive comments via email addressed to: Eligibilty2018@uspto...

What do Texas, Virginia and Montana have in common? Online Notarization!

Posted on April 17, 2018
Effective July 1, 2018, Texas House Bill 1217 will go into effect. It amends Civil Practice and Remedy Code section 121.006 by adding sections (c) and (d), and section 406 of the Government Code.This new law should benefit remote transactions.The details in this new law include a $25 cap for services, interactive two-way audio and video communication that meets the online notarization requirements under Subchapter C, Chapter 406 of the Government Code rules adopted under that subchapter, and the requirements to create and preserve the online record for a period of 5 years after the date of the transaction or proceeding, and authorizing a criminal offence of a Class A Misdemeanor...

Do you have digital assets in your Texas estate?

Posted on March 10, 2018
The Texas Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 400 (S.B. 1193), Sec. 1, effective September 1, 2017.Digital assets are electronic records in which someone has a personal interest or right...

SWALL Inside Books Project

Posted on February 21, 2018
Heather Holmes, Assistant Law Librarian at the Harris County Law Library, is organizing a book donation at the SWALL annual meeting in Houston this April. For those of you attending and interested in donating, here is a link with additional information...

The Texas Supreme Court Discusses the Perils of Relying on Wikipedia

Posted on November 13, 2017
As I was skimming for cases discussing libel and the TCPA (Texas Citizens Participation Act), I stumbled into D Magazine Partners v. Rosenthal, No.15-0790, 2017 WL 1041234 (Tx. Sup. Ct. March 17, 2017). Some readers may have heard of this case because it concerns D Magazine and their publication of a local interest story...

All Things Texas!

Posted on October 11, 2017
In case you missed the announcement, the Texas State Law Library has made Texas statutes electronically available with complete coverage from 1879 to 1984!Read more at the Texas State Law Library's website: https://www.sll.texas.gov/news/2017/10/1984-texas-historical-statutes-are-now-online/Historical Texas statutes are not the only exciting thing happening right now in Texas...

It's Not Just Legal Research -- Check Alerts & Analytics Too!

Posted on July 27, 2017
Numerous articles have been written lately about the differences in relevant results pulled back in various legal research databases (e.g. Robert Ambrogi's recent article and Susan Mart's research that really kicked off this discussion). That may just be the tip of the iceberg...

Big Change on Congress.gov. Now the default search operator is AND instead of OR

Posted on June 30, 2017
June 26, 2017 is the date it all changed.Your search results may be more relevant on the Congress.gov website because the space between two search terms now uses the AND operator instead of the OR operator.Before June 26, 2017 the space between the two search search terms meant OR, providing many results that may not have been relevant...

Dallas City Code Online

Posted on June 04, 2017
The Dallas City Code is online, which saves you time in finding the general language of an ordinance. However, if you need historical information you might want to try the 7th floor of the Dallas Public Library (Dallas History and Archives) or the 6th floor (Urban Information)...

Online Brexit Resources

Posted on March 29, 2017
The Berkeley Library has created a sound resource collection about BREXIT.http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/european-union/brexitAn excerpt for your review..."Developments surrounding the "Brexit" or vote on the Referendum of the United Kingdom's Membership of the European Union are evolving...

5 Best iPhone Apps for Lawyers 2011

Posted on April 01, 2011
5 Best iPhone Apps for Lawyers 2011 according to TopLawyerCoach.com. See article for reasons these apps are considered tops.1. BarMax.2. Law in a Flash: Torts. 3. Kaplan MBE Flashcards. 4. Black's Law Dictionary. 5. LawStack.

New law firm?

Posted on April 01, 2011
The 3 Geeks folks ponder forming a law firm in North Carolina. Possible names:?Geek, Geek & Geek, PC ?Geek³, PC?3 Geeks and a Law Firm, PCNorth Carolina has recently considered a bill allowing up to 49% non-lawyer ownership of law firms. As Greg points out, the NC flag is similar to the TX flag, so it should be "an okay place to do business"...

New Google feature

Posted on March 31, 2011
Exciting or disturbing? The new Google +1 feature requires a Google account and a public profile. Read one take on this at So anyone out there liking Google's +1? 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.

Fastcase - new tools

Posted on March 31, 2011
Jean O'Grady reviews some new directions in legal research using Fastcase. Wednesday, March 30, 2011Fastcase: Legal Research Enters the 4th Dimension or The Little Engine That Could ... ...Come up with some Interesting New Tools for Legal Research.Dewey B Strategic blog

Implications for WestlawNext research

Posted on March 31, 2011
Does WestlawNext Really Change Everything: The Implications of WestlawNext on Legal Research by Ronald E. Wheeler Jr. University of San Francisco School of LawTo be published in Law Library Journal, Vol. 103, No. 3.SSRN abstract ID 1773767Ron takes a thoughtful look at how WestlawNext could affect research by the way it operates...

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