Legal Research

Research Resources: Kluwer Arbitration

Posted on February 22, 2011
Are you looking for an online resource for international arbitration research? Try Kluwer Arbitration. Kluwer Arbitration contains a commentary from expert authors and an extensive collection of primary source materials. With Kluwer Arbitration, you can: Browse for specific documents...

New Changes to the New York State Cell Phone Laws

Posted on February 20, 2011
On February 16, 2011, a new law became effective that imposes two points and a fine of $100 on drivers that use their cell phones or other hand held devices while driving. The relevant changes can be found under the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1225-c and 1225-d...

Presidents' Wills and Estates

Posted on February 19, 2011
My virtual prowling on Presidents' Day weekend led to some fun facts for future lawyers. For example, did you know that Abraham Lincoln, a prominent attorney with years of litigation experience, died without a will? After Lincoln's death, his estate, including what would become the Lincoln Papers, was administered by U...

Presidents' Day

Posted on February 18, 2011
Once again, you are off from class but I will be at my pouncing post on Presidents' Day (Mon. 2/21). You can get help from human beings both at the Circulation and Reference desks between 10am and 6pm. Outside of those hours you can access the Library through our 24/7 access point...

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When Cats Meet Metronomes

Posted on February 17, 2011
Sometimes, it is wise to step back from our mundane daily lives, including even the study of law, and ponder larger questions. For instance, see this video clip, in which two cats encounter a metronome. What, if anything, might the metronome symbolize? Which cat's reaction, if any, do you think best fits the situation?Feel free to philosophize in the comments section, below...

Unpublished Opinions: The Saga Continues . . .

Posted on February 16, 2011
"Unpublished" opinions are not citable in many state courts, and they do not have precedential value in most federal courts. ("Unpublished" opinions are opinions that courts have not designated for publication, even though many of them are easily accessible...

Research Resources: Environment & Energy Publishing

Posted on February 15, 2011
If you are looking for a source with daily coverage of environmental and energy policy and markets, try Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E).To access Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E):* Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"* Click the "Environmental Law" link" link* Scroll down to "Environment & Energy Publishing"Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Review of Panel discussion of alternatives to Lexis & Westlaw

Posted on February 14, 2011
There are legal research alternatives to Lexis and Westlaw. The Houston area law librarians recently hosted a panel discussion to provide an overview of Fastcase, Loislaw and Casemaker. An attendee posted a review of the presentation at 3 Geeks and a Law blog...

Interesting Report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project

Posted on February 13, 2011
The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently published a report entitled "Generations and Their Gadgets." The report finds that many devices have become popular across generations despite many believing that the older generations are not open to technology or not technologically savvy...

Wayback Machine Getting Better

Posted on February 12, 2011
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, the wonderful research tool that captures earlier versions of web sites from as far back as 1996, has just released a new version in beta, with a simpler basic search page, faster navigation, and a cool "show all" feature for showing the dates and times that particular site was crawled (when a snapshot was taken) in each year...

Time Management and email

Posted on February 11, 2011
Just like law students, we virtual cats never have enough time and often need reminders to look after something later on. How many times have you read an email, planned to get back to it later and then became involved in something else and totally forgot?Gmail has an extension called Boomerang that can come to the rescue...

Restrictions On Twitter In Courts: A Foreign Perspective

Posted on February 10, 2011
We?ve all heard of restrictions on jurors? use of Twitter in American courtrooms. English courts are now considering restricting the use of Twitter by courtroom spectators, as well. Read more here.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Searching Outside Your Contract: WestlawNext Example

Posted on February 09, 2011
Attention WestlawNext users:While we pay for access to a lot of content on WestlawNext here at Hofstra, it is common for a law firm to pay for access to specific content (often content relevant to the firm's practice areas), and then pay high per-document or per-minute charges for items that are not including within that subscription (this is true for both Westlaw and WestlawNext, as well as Lexis)...

Reference desk for Tuesday

Posted on February 08, 2011
My duty as a citizen calls - literally - I have been called for jury duty today. This means there will be no Reference desk coverage after 5pm (Tues., 2/8). I hope I get on a juicy cat's rights case!Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Dogs' Nose (Knows)

Posted on February 07, 2011
Canine Detection Evidence at LLRX.com is a collection of studies, standards and resources about canine scent detection evidence. This is a fun overview of how dogs' olfactory prowess is trained and used for detection. The ads at the end illustrate a new use for dogs' noses, finding bedbugs!Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Career Research Resources

Posted on February 06, 2011
Are you looking for resources to search various attorneys, firms, government offices and other legal institutions for internships and jobs? There are a couple of great resources that can help you obtain this information. The Leadership Library provides information for major United States government offices, judicial, corporate, nonprofit organizations and more...

ACA Litigation Blog: Health Care Reform in the Courts

Posted on February 05, 2011
Are you trying to keep up with all the issues and rulings, ups and downs, of the court challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? As significant and interesting as these developments may be for constitutional law, health law, policy and politics, they could easily overwhelm the time-challenged law student...

President Obama Mentions Lawyers In State Of The Union Address

Posted on February 03, 2011
Are you curious to know what the President had to say about your future (and his past) profession during last week's State of the Union address? If so, then click here.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Appellate Advocacy Students

Posted on February 02, 2011
Just a reminder for Appellate Advocacy students. If you have not had Lexis and Westlaw training for Appellate Advocacy yet, it may be mandatory for your class. There are separate classes for Lexis and Westlaw (if your professor is making the training mandatory, you are probably required to attend both) and sign-up is online...

Research Resources: Family Law Reporter

Posted on February 01, 2011
Are you looking for a family law resource? The Family Law Reporter provides access to important new federal and state cases, legislation, trends, and issues.The reporter is published weekly on Tuesdays, except the last Tuesday in March, the Tuesday following July 4th, and the last Tuesday in December...

Gov 2.0

Posted on January 31, 2011
How is government local, federal and international using technology to provide better service? Gov 2.0 Coverage & Insight will keep you up to date on how governments at all levels is using web 2.0 to connect with citizens and make government more accessible and transparent...

HeinOnline Law Journal Library Quick Reference Guide

Posted on January 30, 2011
HeinOnline provides a comprehensive collection of over 230 law journals with many of the legal periodicals being available from the first edition to the present. As such, it can often be overwhelming to search such a large collection of materials. In order to make the search for law journal articles easier, HeinOnline has recently published a "Law Journal Library Quick Reference Guide...

Dodd-Frank Legislative History on HeinOnline

Posted on January 29, 2011
A legislative history of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law in July 2010, is now available in the Taxation and Economic Reform in America library on HeinOnline. This compilation includes more than 140 legislative and executive documents in PDF, arranged in nine parts: The Law; Reports on the Law; Bill Versions; Related Bills; Presidential Materials; Congressional Record materials; Related Reports; Related Hearings; and Congressional Budget Office Reports...

More Snow Law

Posted on January 28, 2011
What's on every one's mind these days, but snow. From clearing snow off your car (see post from Jan. 20), to what our local governments must do to keep us safe, snow pervades the law as well. You can read about municipal liability in the New York Law Journal article - Liability for Negligent Snow Removal...

Practice Tests Help You Learn

Posted on January 26, 2011
This New York Times article from last week discusses scientific studies that should be of interest to law students. It seems that taking practice tests may be a more effective way of learning than other methods of studying.Our exam archive is available to students here...

The Effect of Laughter during Supreme Court Arguments

Posted on January 25, 2011
Have you ever thought about laughter and its effect during Supreme Court oral arguments? If so, read Ryan A. Malphurs?, ?People Did Sometimes Stick Things in my Underwear?The Function of Laughter at the U.S. Supreme Court. Apparently, many jokes before the Court have fallen flat! However, building on an earlier study by Jay Wexler who tracked the number of (laughter) notations, Malphurs studies the effect of laughter, not humor, during oral arguments and focuses on the impact the resulting laughter has on the communication environment of oral arguments...

Pres. Obama's State of the Union address

Posted on January 24, 2011
Pres. Obama gives the State of the Union address this evening. Coverage of the speech starts at 8 PM ET. Congressman Paul Ryan (Wis. - R) will give the GOP's response to the President's speech. The address may be viewed on C-Span. C-Span also archives the State of the Union Address from 1945 (Pres...

Google's Guide to Browsers and the Web

Posted on January 23, 2011
As technology moves forward, it appears that more and more of our daily lives depend on the Internet and Web. We have come to trust these technologies to some degree with our private information but do we even know what these technologies are and how they work? The Google Chrome Team recently published a handy illustrated guidebook entitled "20 Things I Learned About Browsers & the Web...

European Union Research Guide

Posted on January 22, 2011
European Union law is increasingly prominent in commerce, technology, human rights, and other fields, but researching EU legal materials can be a challenge for the typical law student or for anyone unfamiliar with the resources. Globalex, New York University School of Law's foreign and international law research site, has just published the newly revised update of Duncan Alford's "European Union Legal Materials: An Infrequent User's Guide...

Constitutions

Posted on January 21, 2011
After hearing the House of Representatives read our Constitution, I started thinking about other countries constitutions. One great resource for exploring the world's constitutions in HeinOnline's new database World Constitutions Illustrated . It includes the current constitution for every country in its original language format and an English translation, as well as substantial constitutional histories for many countries...

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