Moritz Legal Information Blog

The law library is offering training sessions for faculty research assistants, and you may be scheduled to come in for one of those. But perhaps you are not or you're not a research assistant this summer. You can still learn a thing or two if you have any questions. We'll keep our reference desk hours as you've come to expect them during the week: 10am-5pm, Monday-Friday. (During the school year, we will pick up our 1pm-5pm on Sunday schedule.) You're also welcome to pop your head in one of the librarian's offices (back and on the right on the main floor of the library) and ask if we're available to chat. Perhaps you haven't quite figured out legislative history, case precedent, where to find foreign or international law, or how the library's online databases work. We're happy to answer all those questions and more, and summer's the time to brush up on those legal research skills.

To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee is suing her literary agent in a copyright dispute. For many lawyers and law students, Atticus Finch, the adult protagonist in the book, is the inspiration for their legal careers. If you'd like to revisit the work as inspiration during exams, we have a number of options: E-Book Print Movie

Some of the reason old fogies like myself cringe when people say "I Googled it and couldn't find anything" is because some stuff just isn't available online. Or, you have to know where to look if you want to find it. In other words, the Internet is good for some stuff, but not everything. Take Ohio criminal law from 1973. If you need to know what a particular Ohio statute looked like in 1973, where would you turn? Westlaw has historical Ohio statutes but only back as far as 1993. Lexis isn't much better: it's Ohio Historical Archive  (OHARCH) database gives you statutory text back to 1992. HeinOnline recently began offering older state statutes as well. The benefit to these is that you get the pdf of the item you are looking for. That is, the image you see is a scanned copy of the actual print version. Alas, while Hein does go way back, it only brings you up to 1940 for Ohio---other states have different dates of coverage. ( LLMC also has some historic

A Slate.com article reminded me of something I never knew before law school: juries come in all sizes. What’s the Best Jury Size? takes a mathmatical look at the number of jurors assigned to a matter and assesses whether there is a "right" number of jury members to achieve un unbiased verdict. Looking to revisit the classic notion of 12 jurors? Check out the library's copy of 12 Angry Men .

You may know May Day is International Workers Day, attended by marches and demonstrations around the world .  But it is also Law Day , a day to celebrate the rule of law.  The ABA designated the theme of gender equality, and encourages us to consider "the movement for civil and human rights in America and the work that remains to be accomplished."      We know many of you are studying for your Con Law final, and Law Day comes complete with its own expression of constitutional powers.  President Obama issued a Law Day proclamation , tracing his action to a public law.  In the words of the President, "Law Day is a chance to reaffirm the critical role our courts have always played in addressing those wrongs and aligning our Nation with its first principles. Let us mark this occasion by celebrating that history, upholding the right to due process, and honoring all who have sustained our proud legal tradition."  And perhaps also by cramming for con law.

Following up on Monday's blog post, here's the second news story raising new legal issues regarding online privacy. Companies are utilizing algorithms  to track down potential employees who do not fit the typical mold. If you have your Facebook privacy settings on lockdown, you just may miss the opportunity of a lifetime as this data-gathering method measures how well you interact on social media sites as one factor in assessing whether you'd be a good fit for a company: Of late, growing numbers of academics and entrepreneurs are applying Big Data to human resources and the search for talent, creating a field called work-force science . Gild is trying to see whether these technologies can also be used to predict how well a programmer will perform in a job. The company scours the Internet for clues: Is his or her code well-regarded by other programmers? Does it get reused? How does the programmer communicate ideas? How does he or she relate on social media sites?   In ot

When patient Jeanette Johnson was transferred to a new facility following complications with her gall bladder surgery, Dr. Randall Smith took her hand and said, "I take full responsibility for this.  Everything will be okay." During the subsequent medical malpractice trial, the statement was not admitted, due to Ohio's "apology statute," R.C. 2317.43 .  The jury found in favor of Dr. Smith. Last week, the Supreme Court of Ohio overruled the Eleventh District Court of Appeals and reinstated the jury's verdict, finding that the apology statute did apply to Dr. Smith's statement. You can read the full opinion here and watch the oral argument here . Court News Ohio Legal Newsline