American Lawyer's Summer Associate Survey

The 2006 American Lawyer's Summer Associate Survey is now online. Read the American Lawyer's article, The Real World According to Summer Associates, available at Law.com. The Survey's National Rankings and Results by City are linked to from this article (free registration is required).

From Law Librarian Blog.

Ohio Supreme Court Case Tracking

The Ohio Supreme Court recently announced a new option for tracking in pending Supreme Court cases:

To access the Court's Case Activity Notification Service, simply subscribe to the case tracking system through the Court's Web site (www.supremecourtofohio.gov/rss/subscription) using an e-mail address and creating a password. Searching is simple – by case name, case number or more generally by the year the case was filed.

Once subscribers have identified the case they want to track, they choose whether to be notified of any case activity, such as a new filing, through e-mail or RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary), or both. For more information about RSS feeds, visit www.supremecourtofohio.gov/RSS.

In addition to the new case notification service, digital images of case documents soon will be available on the Court's Web site through case dockets. An icon next to a docket entry will denote that the corresponding digital document is available to view as a PDF file. The clerk's office will scan case documents when they are filed to make them available to the public no later than the end of the next business day. The Court intends ultimately to provide users with the capability to do text searches of all scanned case documents for research purposes.

Gates Nomination Information

The Georgetown Law Library has created a bibiliography related to Robert M. Gates, the Secretary of Defense nominee. The bibliography includes documents about the nominee as well as documents created by the nominee in the course of his professional work. Georgetown has digitized the Senate Report on Mr. Gates' nomination for CIA Director in 1991 and plans to digitize more documents relating to the nomination. The bibliograpy will be updated throughout the nomination process as additional materials become available.

Buckeyes Win!

Buckeyes win, 42-39!

Friday's Lighter Side of the Law

Massachusetts Judge Settles Dispute by Ruling Burrito is Not a Sandwich

“A Fairly Well-Educated Chimp Could Practice Law”

The Law of Beer

Humiliated Frat Boys Sue Movie Studio Over Drunken Appearance in 'Borat'

Miscarriage of Justice Stumper: Match the Defendants to Their Charges
[from LexLibris]

The Nuremberg Trials and Their Legacy

"In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, the world was faced with a challenge-how to seek justice for an almost unimaginable scale of criminal behavior." The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has created a website, The Nuremberg Trials and Their Legacy, that focuses on the The International Military Tribunal, held at Nuremberg, Germany, at the end of World War II. The exhibit features a photo collection, images of artifacts, audio clips relating to testimony, and related material.

From Librarians' Internet Index.

Reverse Dictionary

The folks at the University of Minnesota Law Library brought the OneLook Reverse Dictionary to our attention. From LexLibris:

A working reverse dictionary (hosted by Onelook.com) is one
of the most useful sites out there. We've all had those moments when we know there's a word for some concept, but we don't know what it is. We need something more than a thesaurus, because we don't know an equivalent word. Onelook.com's reverse dictionary helps. You can even enter wildcards, if you know what part of the word looks like. The site is still a beta version, but it looks like a promising new reference tool for all types of writing.

Digital Law Online

InSite recently wrote about the Digital Law Online website. From Insite:

Professor Lee A. Hollaar created Digital Law Online to provide free public access to online copyright treatises and important copyright documents, as well as other self-authored papers. Prof. Hollaar, a faculty member of the School of Computing at the University of Utah, teaches computer networking, intellectual property, and computer law. The website currently makes available Prof. Hollaar's Legal Protection of Digital Information, William Patry's Copyright Law and Practice, and the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) Final Report. Legal Protection of Digital Information includes links to all cases and statutes cited therein. Both the full-text of this treatise, as well as all cases cited, are keyword searchable. Copyright Law and Practice provides an extensive history of copyright law. The CONTU Final Report, published in 1978, is a frequently cited document, available here in both HTML and PDF. Digital Law Online is a solid resource for students of copyright law.

Use of Hidden Metadata OK Says ABA

In a recent ethics opinion, the ABA says that lawyers receiving electronic documents are free to examine "hidden" metadata which might be contained in the document. "The ABA committee noted metadata is ubiquitous in electronic documents, and includes such information as the last date and time that a document was saved and by whom, data on when it was accessed, the name of the owner of the computer that created the document and the date and time it was created, and a record of any changes made to the document or comments written into it." This ethics ruling is contrary to what other legal ethics authorities have said about this issue."

ABA members may download copies of ethics opinions for a period of one year after they are released, at the Center for Professional Responsibility's website. Information about how non‑members can obtain copies of opinions also is posted there.

From WisBlawg.

Academic Law Libraries Score High Marks with Students

The Law Librarian Blog discusses students' views of academic law libraries that are reflected in the 2007 Princeton Review Law School Guide. From the Law Librarian Blog:

In the 2007 edition of the Princeton Review's Best 170 Law Schools academic law libraries recieve high marks from students. A whopping 82% of the 170 law schools have "great research resources," "great
library staffs," or both. No other survey items received such wide acclaim.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual

The 2006 Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual, effective November 1, 2006, is now available at the U.S. Sentencing Commission website.

From BarclayBlog.

Friday's Lighter Side of the Law (Thursday edition)

Britney’s Lawsuit SLAPPed Down

Souter and Ginsburg Are Rich; Thomas and Kennedy Are Not

Oh, the Legal Cites They Are A-Changin' (Most Cited Musical Artists)

How much do federal officials make?

Moonshine

The International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) has created public policy website concerning "moonshine" (aka "non-commerical alcohol"). ICAP provides a fact sheet and a blue book module which highlights traditional non-commercial beverages, public health concerns, and policy implications.

From Librarians' Internet Index.

Trial Lawyer Resource Center

The BarclayBlog brings our attention to the Trial Lawyer Resource Center. From BarclayBlog:

The Trial Lawyer Resource Center, authored by experienced trial lawyers, offers practical trial tips and techniques on a variety of topics ranging from case selection toopenings, evidence and post settlement issues. Readers may peruse the latest posts, or select material by topic or author.

Building a Better Voting Machine

Wired News has an interesting article about "Building a Better Voting Machine."

From Law Librarian Blog.

E-voting state by state: What you need to know

From Computerworld:

Computerworld.com presents what you need to know for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. You’ll find out what equipment and systems are in place for voter registration and polling, any significant legal challenges to the systems, previous Computerworld coverage of individual states, selected coverage from other media, and links to government watchdog sites. We’ve also got concise FAQ-style information on the vendors, technologies and laws that are
important to the issue.

From Law Librarian Blog.

Recent CRS Reports

Some new Congressional Research Service ("CRS") Reports have been made available. The Reports cover a wide-range of topics, including:

North Korea's Nuclear Test: Motivations, Implications, and U.S. Options

Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity

Weapons of Mass Destruction: Trade Between North Korea and Pakistan

Taiwan-U.S. Political Relations: New Strains and Changes

Nuclear Power Plants: Vulnerability to Terrorist Attack

For a more complete list of recent CRS Reports, check out Open CRS.

Friday's Lighter Side of the Law

Judge: 'You Want a Piece of Me?'

Lawyer, Feared Dead, Is Alive and Practicing

Lindsay Lohan Served With a Subpoena — On the Red Carpet!

Nine Members of the Same Family Admitted to Supreme Court Practice

Gimme an 'S': The High Court's Grammatical Divide

Wisconsin Judge on Appellant’s Argument: “Not Cool!”

Reference Librarian Position Available

The Michael E. Moritz Law Library is currently seeking applicants for an available reference librarian position. More information about the position can be found here.

Massachusetts Pro Se Assistance Pilot Program

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently announced a pilot program where pro se litigants in certain Massachusetts family and probate courts can get limited assistance from attorneys. Massachusetts Law Updates provides a summary of the new program:

Beginning November 1, self-represented litigants in Probate and Family courts in Hampden and Suffolk counties can get some valuable assistance. Under a pilot program announced by the Supreme Judicial Court, attorneys can "assist a pro se litigant on a limited basis without undertaking a full representation of the client on all issues related to the legal matter for which the attorney is engaged." For example, "A qualified attorney may limit the scope of his or her representation of a client if the limitation is reasonable under the circumstances and the client gives informed consent." Also, an attorney may make a "limited appearance on behalf of an otherwise unrepresented party." The pilot project is scheduled to last for eighteen months.

From Robert Ambrogi's Law Sites.

Who Votes, Who Doesn't, and Why

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has recently released its report, Who Votes, Who Doesn't, and Why: Regular Voters, Intermittent Voters, and Those Who Don't. The report discusses the results of a survey about American voting habits and provides data on factors which affect the likelihood of voting, such as views of country and community and demographics of voters and non-voters. Read a summary of the report or download the full report in PDF.

From Librarians' Internet Index.

Historical CFR Now Available on HeinOnline

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), from inception in 1938 through the 1983 edition, is now available on HeinOnline in searchable PDF format.

The CFR is available from 1996 through the present at GPO Access.

From WisBlawg.

Technology Survey of Ohio Courts

The Ohio Supreme Court released its 2006 Technology and the Courts survey. The survey found, among other things, the following:

• Nearly half of the state's courts are utilizing document imaging technology.
• Courts are moving away from VHS and analog recording and toward digital recording methods.
• 100 percent of Ohio trial courts are now automated, and only one appellate court remains to be automated at this time.
• Video arraignment technology continues to grow with 127 courts reporting they conducted video conferencing for various purposes.
• Fifty courts also reported using multimedia presentation equipment in their courtrooms for slide presentations, digital photography and video reenactments.
• 250 courts have Web sites as of 2006, which is more than twice the number with Web sites in 2000

Read the Supreme Court press release. The complete survey report can be downloaded here.