Moritz Legal Information Blog

To commemorate Human Trafficking Week here at Moritz, we've put together two displays to showcase some of the books and resources on the subject that we have in the library. The first display is in the large case just outside the library entrance; the second is by the reference desk. We’ve also created a research guide on the subject if you’d like to peruse the collection (including web videos and e-books) online. For more on Moritz's efforts to raise awareness, check out this article from NBC News: OSU Law School Fights To Raise Awareness On Human Trafficking .

Who is Gunnar Birkerts ? He's the gentleman you have to thank for the stairs that take many visitors up to the law library (i.e., "the spreading cascading stairs that bring continuity from the grounds to the learning spaces"). He is also the man who believed that "the [law school's] edifice presents the first view of the campus for those coming from downtown. It is an introduction to the larger campus beyond. It is where the "town meets the gown."" Intrigued? Check out Architecture + Urbanism (volume 294) in the law library's collection.

At the start of a new semester, the news brings us a rich real world example of contracts, arbitration, and more in the form of Alex Rodriguez.  The Yankees play was recently suspended for 162 games, as reported by ESPN .  An arbitrator found A-Rod violated both the Basic Agreement (a collective bargaining agreement) and the Joint Drug Agreement. Both agreements are available on the MBL site .  A-Rod has appealed to federal court, and the complaint includes a copy of the arbitration panel's opinion. Our collection includes many books (including ebooks) on sports law -- check out our catalog for more.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has charged 106 people with disability benefits fraud in relation to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Former police officers who had told government doctors they were too mentally scarred to leave home had posted photographs of themselves fishing, riding motorcycles, driving water scooters, flying helicopters and playing basketball. For more on disability law, check out these great books (including CLE materials) in our collection. For insight into the social media evidence that can be admitted at trial, check out Social Media as Evidence: Cases, Practice Pointers, and Techniques .

We are working on our legal research guide collection with the aim of giving you more ways to find the things you need in your law library. If you're interested in the latest, you can even sign up for alerts to find out when we've added new content: In the meantime, if you're looking for research help online, check out the guides and video tutorials created by the law librarians at the University of Cincinnati: Legal Research Video Tutorials .

Legal writing professors are always looking for innovative ways to help law students improve their writing. One tried-and-true(-and-fun) technique: Encouraging students to read well-written novels. Here is the latest list of recommended reading from legal writing professors around the country with links to the Ohio State libraries' catalog records: E.B. White, Charlotte's Web , The Trumpet of the Swan , and Stuart Little George Orwell, Politics and the English Language  (an essay) Russell Kirk, The American Cause Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays Martin Luther King Jr., Letter From a Birmingham City Jail T.S. Eliot, Selected Essays, 1917-1932 G.K. Chesterton, Selected Essays Sonia Sotomayor, My Beloved World Markus Zusak, The Book Thief Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird John Grisham, Pelican Brief Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet Joan Di

Slate.com's crime blog has provided fodder for the Moritz blog on several occasions. In honor of the crime blog's first full year in existence, they've put together a list of awards , including dumbest Criminal, most valuable cop, least valuable cop, best exculpation, worst excuse, biggest mystery, least successful fugitive, most cinematic heist, lowest-stakes robbery, and most valuable criminal. For more legal superlatives, check out Legal Blunders in the Moritz Law Library collection.