Moritz Legal Information Blog

If you're looking to read some case law or law review literature in the spirit of Halloween (and who isn't?), I'd recommend these: Stambovsky v. Ackley, 572 N.Y.S.2d 672 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991) (house was haunted as a matter of law). Daniel M. Warner, Caveat Spiritus: A Jurisprudential Reflection Upon the Law of Haunted Houses and Ghosts , 28 Val. U. L. Rev 207 (1993). William P. MacNeil, "Kidlit" as "Law-and-Lit": Harry Potter and the Scales of Justice , 14 Cardozo Stud. L. & Lit. 545 (2002). Christine A. Corcos, "Who Ya Gonna C(S)ite?" Ghostbusters and the Environmental Regulation Debate , 13 J. Land Use & Envtl. L. 231 (1997).

A new web site, Building a Better Legal Profession , ranks and grades large, private law firms on several workplace factors, such as diversity of partners, pro bono work, and billable hours. For a few markets (Manhattan, D.C., Boston, etc.) you can find out how diverse your potential employer is before deciding whether to accept the offer. The site was started by concerned law students interested in workplace reforms.

The Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision today in which it suspended Mason Municipal Court Judge George Parker for one year (18 months, with 6 months stayed) for judicial misconduct. The decision , which details Judge Parker's misconduct, needs to be read to be believed.

The student editor of the Brooklyn Law Review argues that characters in virtual worlds like Second Life should be able to seek redress in "first life" courts. The article is currently posted at SSRN , and will be published in Volume 72 of the Brooklyn Law Review.

The U.S. State Department has started a blog, Dipnote . From the website : Welcome to the State Department's first-ever blog, Dipnote. As a communicator for the Department, I have the opportunity to do my fair share of talking on a daily basis. With the launch of Dipnote, we are hoping to start a dialogue with the public. More than ever, world events affect our daily lives--what we see and hear, what we do, and how we work. I hope Dipnote will provide you with a window into the work of the people responsible for our foreign policy, and will give you a chance to be active participants in a community focused on some of the great issues of our world today. With Dipnote we are going to take you behind the scenes at the State Department and bring you closer to the personalities of the Department. We are going to try and break through some of the jargon and talk about how we operate around the world. We invite you to participate in this community, and I am looking forward to stepping awa

Staff Relations 101: What Every New Associate Needs to Know . From the Texas Lawyer (via Law.com). Thanks to Stark County Law Library Blog (and the Legal Ease Blog ).

An interesting article in the Daily Business Review (via Law.com) about law firms with "no jerks" rules.

The American Constitution Society is making an Index of Presidential Signing Statements, 2001-2007 , available online. The Index is described on the website: A comprehensive index of presidential signing statements issued between 2001 and 2007. The index, compiled by Neil Kinkopg, associate professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law and former special assistant in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, provides a comprehensive list of every provision of a law objected to by the White House in a signing statement, the reason for the objection, and a link to the relevant signing statement. From BoleyBlogs and the Law Librarian Blog .

Northwestern University Law School Professor Lee Epstein has created a digital archive containing some of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun's papers from the Library of Congress. The archive currently contains PDF files of docket sheets and preliminary (pool) memoranda from Justice Blackmun's term on the Rehnquist Court, 1986-1993. From BarclayBlog .

"No judge ever says, 'I just wish the attorney had used bigger words.'" Read the Legal Times article (via Law.com) From Stark County Law Library Blog .

"The new website, http://www.getmyfbifile.com/ provides a quick and easy way to request your FBI Files, if they exist, from FBI Headquarters as well as the various FBI Field Offices. Additional bonus features allow you to ask for files about you at other federal agencies including the CIA, DIA, NSA, the Secret Service, and the Army Criminal Investigative Command. This is a sister site to the successful Get Grandpas FBI File website , established due to the number of people asking how they could get their own FBI File." (Michael Ravnitzky) From beSpacific .

Law students always ask me the same question about unpublished court decisions, "Why?" Law Professor Daniel Solove discusses this practice at the Concurring Opinions blog.

Tips for faculty research assistants at the Feminist Law Blog. From BoleyBlogs .

"Although I Realize Students Often Don't Like Grading on a Curve...I recommend against making a federal case out of it . The complaint in the case is here , and the motion to dismiss is here ." Law Professor Orin Kerr on the Volokh Conspiracy .