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Showing posts from April, 2014

Deleting Emails After They're Sent

Google's Mail Goggles prevented users from sending drunken emails by compelling users to do a series of math problems before the message would be sent. Microsoft Outlook allows you to recall or replace emails you've sent (in case, for example, you included the wrong attachment or sent confidential information to opposing counsel). But folks are still looking for a full-proof solution. (Microsoft's Outlook can't recall an email that has already been opened, and---embarrassingly---it tells the recipient you are trying to recall the email!) Enter the Harvard law students . Their service, Pluto Mail, is still in the beta stage and has some drawbacks, but it may be worth a try for those who have itchy trigger fingers when it comes to sending scathing emails.

Siri, Can You Be Searched?

People use cell phones to listen to music, get directions, and communicate via text, email, and video (see this Pew Fact Sheet ).   Should the police be able to access all of this data without a warrant?   Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases on this subject (see this brief summary from the ABA Journal ).   In 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court heard a similar case , holding “the warrantless search of data within a cell phone seized incident to a lawful arrest is prohibited by the Fourth Amendment when the search is unnecessary for the safety of law-enforcement officers and there are no exigent circumstances.”   Stay tuned to see whether the United States Supreme Court agrees.

Law as Lovely as a Tree

Today is Arbor Day .   Trees form no small part of Ohio’s legal landscape, and their branches reach well beyond the realm of neighbor disputes .     A search for the word “tree” in the Ohio Revised Code yields provisions regarding maple product standards, timber sale agreements, and the state forest nursery, among others.   Searches for “trees” and “forest” lead to even more result (a reminder to think flexibly about search terms).   And, of course, Ohio’s official state tree is none other than the buckeye.   We encourage you to take a study break soon (weather permitting) and enjoy the trees, from buckeyes to dogwoods, in one of Columbus’s many metro parks !

It Is A Constitution We Are Amending

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has recently published a book advocating for six amendments to the Constitution.  Read an excerpt at ABC News .  Perhaps the most controversial of these is his suggest addition to the Second Amendment; Justice Stevens proposes recognizing a right to bear arms “when serving in the Militia.”  On this topic, see the excerpt at the Washington Post .  Justice Stevens is not alone in suggesting constitutional changes of late.  According to the ABA Journal , Justice Ginsberg would add the Equal Rights Amendment , and Justice Scalia would make the amendment process easier. How would you change this founding document?

Giving Up Your Right to Sue Simply for "Liking" a Product

From the ancient halls of Click-Wrap, are you aware that some national companies have terms of service you agree to when you "like" their products on Facebook? Let's say you want to file a lawsuit against General Mills, maker of Cheerios, because you allege the cereal is toxic. you may be out of luck in court, though you could still arbitrate your dispute. From the new terms: “Please note we also have new legal terms which require all disputes related to the purchase or use of any General Mills product or service to be resolved through binding arbitration.” Perhaps this is yet another reason to take an arbitration and/or a negotiation class before you graduate!

Chat/IM with a Law Librarian

Nothing makes a librarian’s heart happier than helping, and the law library has recently added a service we hope will help you. Need a quick answer but can’t make it into the law library with your legal research question? Or are you in the law library but reluctant to pack up your books and laptop to come to the reference desk lest you lose your spot? Perhaps you’re a clinic student and working downtown for the afternoon in court. Great news: the Moritz Law Library now offers live chat during reference hours! You can quickly and easily type a quick question and get a response. Just go to our Ask A Librarian legal research guide and start chatting. A law librarian will be available to respond to your questions Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm and Sundays from 1pm-5pm. In the event we are unavailable to chat (for example, if the librarian has stepped away from the desk for a moment to assist someone), you’re of course still welcome to call 614-292-9463 and leave a voicemail, or you can e

Baseball Season is in Full Swing

Yes, you read that heading correctly: librarians do enjoy puns. It's been said that baseball is America's favorite pastime , and traditionally pastime has been narrowly defined as some sport or other. Alas for baseball, pastime has a broader definition , and I'd argue watching sports bloopers and/or public shaming on the Internet generally is something Americans love more than baseball. So here's to bringing all of these pastimes together: Phillies Fans' Reactions To Dan Uggla's Grand Slam Are Amazing . My favorite pastime, of course, is reading. Here are a few baseball books in our collection for your pastime pleasure: The Little White Book of Baseball Law The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption Legal Decisions that Shaped Modern Baseball Curt Flood in the Media: Baseball, Race, and the Demise of the Activist-Athlete One Man Out: Curt Flood Versus Baseball Legal Issues in Professional Baseball May the Best Team Win: Baseba

Casetext and Ravel

Meet a pair of remarkable next-gen research tools: Casetext and Ravel . Casetext provides the full text of cases for free accompanied by crowd-sourced annotations and links to secondary sources. Anyone can annotate the cases, and those annotations found most valuable can be up-voted. The site also has annotated contracts for those interested in insights from practitioners indicating which terms have fared best in court and other key pieces of information you might need as you draft agreements. Ravel Law also provides the full text of cases for free, but its primary value is a visual representation indicating which cases are significant for the points of law you are researching. Casetext is free, period. Ravel Law is free to law students; sign up with your .edu email address to get full access to all of the cases in the Ravel Law database.

Who Owns Jokes?

Some jokes are as old as Methuselah. Actually, the oldest joke book is from the 4th century. It's a little text called Philogelos, and yes, we actually own a copy here at OSU. You can imagine, then, that joke theft is also an old practice, and where there is theft, there is litigation. Where there is litigation, there is of course a law faculty member or two interested in studying the matter. Check out the newsy version of the faculty analysis, or read the Virginia Law Review article on the subject . As a brief note on the article, the faculty authors distinguish between joke theft and copyright infringement, which should be something warranting a "hmm..." from our blog readers who are also copyright enthusiasts.

Hollywood Interns Suing

No, the title of this blog post does not refer to the poorly rated film The Internship (though I admit, I've seen worse films). Unpaid Hollywood interns  have filed a class action lawsuit seeking "back pay, damages and an order barring use of unpaid interns at Fox Searchlight Pictures and other units of Fox Entertainment Group." The interns contend Hollywood studios are violating the Fair Labor Standards Act , "which mandates that unpaid internships benefit the interns, not the employers." How many times have you toyed with the idea of volunteering (taking an unpaid internship) to develop relationships and get experience in an effort to get your foot in the door? Should the Hollywood interns expect more if it's the case that this is just the way film business is run? You might be surprised at what distinguishes interns from employees : For interns The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer,

Cartooning at the Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court decisions have been coming out en masse , it seems (though SCOTUSblog does not expect any decisions this week). According to a Washington Post reporter , "Any information that emerges from big Supreme Court hearings feels like it’s been smuggled out of the edifice on First Street." The reporter then makes a case for cartoonists, i.e., "someone in the room who specializes in interpreting personal presentation and interpersonal interactions." Curious to see a cartoonist explain the latest Supreme Court decisions via gifs and videos? See the work of Ann Telnaes here.

Occupational Employment Statistics

Slate.com, courtesy of Business Insider, provides a map showing which jobs are the most unique in each state. The map illustrates which "state has far more of [each job] per capita than the nation as a whole." Ohio has far more foundry casters than any other state per capita. New Mexico is awash with physicists; Virginia is packed to the gills with "Legal Support." Legal Support is a group that includes paralegals, legal assistants, court reporters, title examiners, and other miscellaneous legal support workers. All of this data is derived from a recent report on Occupational Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics . How many people identify "lawyer" as their occupation? 592,670. And the number of judicial law clerks? 10,890. The mean (average) hourly wage for lawyers is $63.46/hour with a median of $54.95. The mean salary is $131,990.    

Printing Wikipedia

I admit it: I use Wikipedia as a starting point for research. If I need to know an estimated population for Peru, it's a quick and easy source. If I need to confirm that population (including how current it is), I'll likely turn to the CIA's World Factbook  (also available in print ). Why? Because Wikipedia is crowd-sourced, I have no idea how reliable or accurate the data is. Enter PediaPress, a group with plans to print Wikipedia  in part to assuage librarians' fears. Said one librarian when told of the project, "[A] lot of people — including many librarians — are skeptical of Wikipedia as a reliable research tool. But...seeing the encyclopedia in print might change some of those attitudes." While this may be true, librarians are not often judges, so for now, don't rely on the print version of Wikipedia for your legal arguments. Instead, just spend time marveling at how much content Wikipedia houses: "One thousand volumes, 1,200 pages each — mor