Legal Research

Legal Resources News & Notes

Here are several recent announcements of new or updated legal resources:

Announcing PolicyArchive
PolicyArchive, billed as the "nation's first free, comprehensive, online archive of public policy research," became available last week. With over 12,000 policy documents from over 220 think tanks, PolicyArchive hopes to become the world's largest online repository of public policy research, reaching up to 20,000 documents by the end of 2008. Read more at: http://deanelawlibrary.blogspot.com/2008/07/policyarchive-launched.html

Cost Effective Legal Research Advice for New Associates and Law Clerks
A recent semi-serious Law Librarian Blog Poll posed the question: what will be the first thing law firm librarians tell summer associates this year? 74.7% responded with "Lexis/Westlaw costs MONEY!" By now, the truth of that advice, the consequences of not realizing how expensive online legal research can be, is sinking into the minds of some "bright young things" who started working at law firms and corporate legal departments this summer. Perhaps it's time to assign them some required reading. Read more, including a text list, at: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2008/07/cost-effective.html

New Blogs Added/Updated on the Law Professor Blogs Network
Career & Professional Development Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/lawcareer/
International Law Prof Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/international_law/
Administrative Law Prof Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adminlaw/
Unincorporated Business Law Prof Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/unincorporated_business/

NACTT Launches Consumer Bankruptcy Website
The National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees (NACTT) recently launched ConsiderChapter13.org. Produced by NACITT's Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, ConsiderChapter13.org is designed to raise awareness of Chapter 13 and provide resources for legal professionals, financial advisors and consumers. Read more, including the Press Release, at: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2008/07/nactt-launches.html

Professional Reading: The Taxonomy of Interdisciplinary Legal Research
Mathias Siems (Edinburgh School of Law and Cambridge Centre for Business Research) recently posted The Taxonomy of Interdisciplinary Legal Research: Finding the Way Out of the Desert in SSRN. Here's the abstract:

This article identifies four different types of interdisciplinary legal research: one basic and three advanced types. Basic interdisciplinary research uses the same questions as starting points as traditional legal research, however, it also considers other academic disciplines in order to answer these questions. Advanced interdisciplinary research goes further: it can either deal with research questions that are not about the law as such (type 1), or incorporate "scientific methods" into legal thinking (type 2), or combine both (type 3.) This new taxonomy is useful in order to identify the benefits and difficulties of different types of interdisciplinary legal research.

Sources: Law Librarian Blog
Virtual Library Cat's Eye View blog

Full post as published by LexLibris on July 21, 2008 (boomark / email).