LexLibris

Thinking About Law and Creativity: On the 100 Most Creative Moments in American Law, by Robert F. Blomquist (Professor of Law/Swygert Research Fellow, Valparaiso University School
of Law): http://abajournal.com/files/100CreativeMoments.pdf
From the Abstract:

"In most cultural contexts creativity is viewed as an unalloyed virtue. Law is different: given the inherently conservative and slow-moving pace of legal evolution, innovation in the law is viewed by many observers as problematic. Yet American revolutionaries, constitutionalists, legislators, chief executives, judges, administrators, scholars and activists have creatively changed the law for over two centuries in mostly positive ways with some admittedly questionable innovations. This article makes a bold new proposal—the articulation and ranking of America’s most creative legal moments—designed to energize and clarify our synoptic thinking about the nature of legal creativity."

Source: beSpacific

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 09:43 AM | Permalink

Looking for some extremely useful legal career resources? Check out Vocare: blog of the Career and Professional Development Center here at the UMN Law School.
Photo: Ruffneck119

Here is a sampling of recent helpful information posted on the blog:

Reference Q&A:
When you are the reference and you get the surprise call, you have two choices.
(1) Be honest and say that you can’t provide a good reference because you don’t know the candidate well enough to give a fair evaluation.
(2) Lie and give a glowing reference. Murphy's Law says that this will come back to haunt you. And, you'll feel sick about it.
Read more (including a third choice)...

Create an unofficial transcript
Follow these directions from the Registrar. This links to CAREERFILES on the CPDC website.

First steps in an alternative career search: GoldPASS - the University's job resource
Because most law-trained people pay scant attention to what other people do for a living (unless they are Workers' Compensation lawyers), one important early step in a search for an alternative career is to reconnect with other career paths.
The easiest way to begin is to read a lot of job descriptions very carefully, to begin to understand how functions are described and categorized. This helps you to think about those functions and how your own skills and experience can be described to meet hiring criteria in a non-law setting. These are your transferable skills.
Read more...

Vocare is available at: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/lawcso/vocare/ and is updated regularly.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:01 AM | Permalink

Here are some new or updated legal resources that have recently been announced:

Overview of State Legislation Related to Immigrants and Immigration
New report from the National Conference of State Legislatures: "This report provides a first look at introduced legislation in 2008 and presents selected examples of enacted laws relating to immigrants and refugees. This process of legislative tracking and reporting is based on a comprehensive and inclusive methodology and captures all state legislation in which immigrants – whether authorized or unauthorized, temporary migrants, aliens and refugees – are affected."

American Lawyer Website Relaunched
AmericanLawyer.com gets a design makeover and enhanced site features. Visitors will have free unlimited access to the website through July to spend time and get acquainted with the dynamic, new and upgraded features that include:
*News and information updated on a daily basis
*Excerpts from the current month's magazine content
*A rich archive of past issues available on demand
*The Am Law Daily News Alert, a new daily newsletter sent to The American Lawyer's email subscriber base

Professional Reading: Using the Law Review Article Type Indicator to Make Publishing Decisions
Does Yale Law Journal review "all manuscripts anonymously, without regard to the author's name, institutional affiliation, prior publications, or pending publication offers" as claimed? Apparently not according to Jack Chin's post on PrawfsBlawg, at least not after the initial screening. Of course, Yale is not alone. Eric Chiappinelli (Seattle) suggests a tool for screening articles in Definite Articles: Using the Law Review Article Type Indicator® to Make Law Review Publishing Decisions (SSRN). Here's the abstract:

Each year close to two thousand law review articles are circulated among about two hundred student-edited law journals. As a result, law reviews around the country spend upwards of three thousand hours a year screening potential articles for publication. This process is exhausting for both authors and editors alike. The core problem in the law review article selection process is the information asymmetry between authors and law reviews. This article presents a tool, the Law Review Article Type Indicator (LRATI) that aims to reduce the information disparity, in turn making the article selection process less time consuming, more fruitful, and generally more pleasant for law review editors and authors. To achieve this end, the LRATI employs four bipolar scales that systematically evaluate both the author and the submission in an effort to ensure that law reviews only publish author's who are "stars" or "keepers", or at the very least "fillers" while eliminating with ease any and all "losers." This article argues that if law reviews implement the LRATI, the selection of law review articles will be quicker, more accurate, and will take place with less rancor and fewer interpersonal conflicts than ever before.

Commercial Law Bibliography
Michael Hillinger's "Commercial Law Bibliography" has been published in the DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal (vol. 5, Fall 2006, no. 1, page 179). Now available in HeinOnline or Westlaw.

New on LLRX.com - Plain Language in Government Communications
The Government Domain: Plain Language in Government Communications: Peggy Garvin demonstrates the impact of the Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2008 on the accessibility of content posted on e-government websites. — Published May 20, 2008

Sources: Law Librarian Blog, beSpacific

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:24 AM | Permalink

Southern Poverty Law Center: Intelligence Project
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intpro.jsp

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been monitoring the activities of hate groups and extremist activities since 1981. Today, their Intelligence Project continues to track over 800 hate groups across the United States.

First-time visitors to the site can look over the "Top Hatewatch Headlines", which offer brief synopses of current activities within the various groups.

From there, visitors will want to visit the "Intelligence Report" section. Here, they will find the current issue of this magazine, which frequently includes guest editorials, interviews with former hate group members and leaders, and information about how the Center is combating these different groups and their activities.

Additionally, the site also includes an interactive map of active hate groups in the United States.

Source: Internet Scout Project
Copyright Internet Scout, 1994-2008. Internet Scout (http://scout.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, are preserved on all copies.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 03:27 PM | Permalink

Success Rate of Law School Graduates on the Teaching Market
Brian Leiter (Texas) has published Success Rate of Law School Graduates on the Teaching Market 2006-2008. This new ranking study is based on data compiled by Daniel Solove (George Washington) and Larry Solum (Illinios).

Study of Experts and Novices Reading the Law
Leah Christensen's (University of St. Thomas School of Law) The Paradox of Legal Expertise: A Study of Experts and Novices Reading the Law has been published in the Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal (2008 BYU Educ. & L.J. 53). The article describes a study that examined how ten legal experts (eight lawyers and two judges) and ten novices (law students in the top 50% of their class) read a judicial opinion and suggests advice for improving the reading skills of law students.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:42 AM | Permalink

Alina Ng (Mississippi College School of Law) has deposited Authors and Readers: Conceptualizing Authorship in Copyright Law in SSRN. Here's the abstract:

Copyright law recognizes authors as the first owners of copyright. However, there is paucity of literature in copyright analysis of the author and the rights which should be granted by virtue of the very act of creativity in the production of literary and artistic works. This indicates insufficient attention paid to a concept that is so central to a law that primarily aims to encourage authorship for society's benefit. The idea of the author and authorship as a creative process is central to copyright analysis. Deeper analysis of the author and creative authorship will provide insights into how the law can work towards encouraging better author-reader connection and create a more efficient market for literary and artistic works to provide rewards to authors to encourage greater production of works to benefit society. This article proposes that conceptualizing authors as the most important figure for the grant of property rights will facilitate greater production of works that society will be willing to pay for in the market. This paper concludes that copyright is a law to encourage authors to create literary and artistic works for society. The rights granted under the law should encourage creative authorship, rather than a recovery of investment, and that public interests are served best by a law recognizing the creative author over the economic investor.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 02:19 PM | Permalink

UPDATE (7/15/08):
In just a few days, the long-awaited EBSCOhost 2.0 interface will be fully implemented. Its brand new look and feel, based on extensive user testing and feedback, will provide you with the most powerful, clean and intuitive interface available. This is the first redesign of the EBSCOhost interface since 2002, and its functionality incorporates the latest technological advances.

We have created a wide range of tools and information to streamline your transition to the new design:
An overview of EBSCOhost 2.0 is provided in the Flash demonstration here. (www.ebscohost.com/2.0_flash)

The EBSCOhost 2.0 Support Center is available here. (http://support.epnet.com/ebscohost2)

Our marketing web site also features new EBSCOhost 2.0 web pages, where you can learn more about its key features, here. (http://www.ebscohost.com/2.0)

We hope that you and your users enjoy the clean new design of EBSCOhost 2.0, and welcome your feedback.
Visit EBSCO's Support Site (http://support.ebsco.com) to learn about new features, search among thousands of FAQs, download Flash tutorials, Help Sheets or User Guides, or communicate with Technical Support at any time, using the EBSCO Support Form (http://support.epnet.com/contact/askus.php).

May 19, 2008:

EBSCO will be coming out with a new interface in July.

Many interesting options worth a peek (e.g. ability to preview images or abstracts from a results list; a date slide limiter; etc.).

A list of new features, with a self-paced demo, is available at:
http://ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?marketID=1&topicID=969

Source: Monday Memo

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 09:16 AM | Permalink

From the Law Librarian Blog comes news of two new resources related to Law Reviews:

A group of anonymous law review article editors are publishing the Anonymous Articles Editor Blog. This new blog is offering "tips for law professors on how to increase their chances of getting published (or at least a favorable reading by an articles editor)." More info about this new blog is available at the Adjunct Law Prof Blog.

Leah M. Christensen and Julie A. Oseid have successfully navigated the law review selection process. See their recent article: Navigating the Law Review Article Selection Process: An Empirical Study of Those with All the Power -- Student Editors, 59 S.C. L. Rev. 175-224 (2007) [Available on Westlaw].

From the introduction:

A simple but worthwhile question in this debate is whether this selection process is fair. The fairness and impartiality of article selection is important to new law professors. For them, success in the legal academy may depend on what, where, and how often they publish in the appropriate law journal. New law professors not only face the quantitative expectations of how many published articles are required for promotion and tenure but also the qualitative expectations about what types of articles “count” for promotion and tenure. The problem is that these qualitative requirements may be left unwritten or unstated. The increased competition for publication space, coupled with the potential bias of the current system towards author credentials, is a disturbing trend for a majority of new professors in the legal academy. If student editors rely upon author credentials as a “proxy” for quality, then legal academics need to explore this reality more openly.

This study seeks to explore these questions and add to the growing body of empirical research on law review article selection. The study examines how law review editors at all levels of the law school “tier” system--Top 15, Top 25, Top 50, Top 100, Third Tier, Fourth Tier and Specialty Journals) -- weigh the importance of author credentials, topic, format, and timing of an article submission in making their selection decisions. Although the study found that most editors consider each of these factors to some degree, the data also suggest that the higher ranked journals rely more heavily on author credentials than lower ranked journals. Specifically, editors at higher tiered law schools were highly influenced by where an author has previously published. Further, while not a single editor at a Top 15 school considered an author's practice experience in making a publication decision, a majority of the editors at lower tiered journals rated practice experience as an important factor in article selection. While the study participants almost unanimously agreed that they were influenced by the topic of an article, there were important differences among the law schools concerning the actual topics about which they would be most or least likely to publish. In addition to describing the *181 survey results in more detail, this Article will offer specific commentary from the student editors about their means of selecting law review articles.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 09:05 AM | Permalink

The Law Library's hours will change tomorrow May 16. The library will close at 4:30 pm on May 16 and be closed May 17-18. Summer hours begin Monday May 19:
Photo by Mingfong

Summer Hours
Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Closed Weekends, Closed May 26, July 4, Sept. 1

Regular Semester Hours resume on Tuesday Sept. 2. Law students with after hours UCard access will still be able to enter the library 24/7.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 09:09 AM | Permalink

Law & Ethics of Human Rights

This new e-journal from Berkeley Electronic Press focuses on human rights law and its intersection with political theory and policy. Each issue centers around one contemporary human rights dilemma that raises major legal and moral questions. The inaugural issue is on multiculturalism and the anti-discrimination principle. Links to all of the BE Press legal journals are located in the Law Library’s Directory of Electronic Resources at: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/ERDirectory.html.

Thanks to Reference Librarian Vic Garces for the tip!

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:36 AM | Permalink

Improving Legal Research Instruction: Texas Tech's Certificate of Excellence in Legal Research Program

As law schools send their graduates off to practice law and their first and second year students to summer programs, many are all too often ill-equipped to perform legal research effectively. Arturo Torres, Associate Dean, Law Library and Computing, and Professor of Law at Texas Tech School of Law, describes below a comprehensive, systematic and convenient legal research program for Texas Tech students.

"The Law Library at the Texas Tech University School of Law offers an extracurricular non-credit certificate program in legal research. By completing this program, students earn a credential that can be listed on their resume as proof of the research skills they offer prospective employers.

"To earn the Certificate of Excellence in Legal Research, students must complete 30 clock hours of instruction and assessment. Each student must complete 20 hours of required courses and 10 hours of electives. Each class consists of two or three hours of lecture and demonstration and one hour of skills assessment. To earn credit for each class, the student must satisfactorily complete the one-hour skill assessment. A representative sample of a semester course schedule is below.

"Students may begin the program as early as the second semester of their first year of law school and complete the required number of hours anytime before graduation. Classes in print research, electronic research, and various other general research topics are offered every semester and during the summer session. Students register online based on their needs and availability.

"The program has been in existence for about two years and we are proud to report that as of spring 2008 eight students have received their certificates. Many students are currently in the pipeline and working toward certification.

"Based on our experiences over the last two years, we will be revamping the program in summer 2008. We will be reviewing the course offerings, including required courses, rigor of skill assessment, and general program administration streamlining. The program is further described at http://www.law.ttu.edu/lawlibrary/library/coe/.

-- Arturo Torres, Associate Dean, Law Library and Computing, and Professor of Law, Texas Tech School of Law

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 09:33 AM | Permalink

Every so often, we'll review what we find on YouTube that could be used for legal research or education. On the topic of Contract Law, we find Legalmax.info. It has "Contract Law lectures, Contract Law tutorials, Contract Law tips, a Contract Law essay ranking exercise, Contract Law cases & materials, Sale of Goods lectures, & as an added extra: a Web Law Library."

We also find Diana Wallis' remarks before European Parliament on European Contract Law and an episode from the UCBerkeley Graduate Council Lectures from June 2007 featuring "distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren, [who] teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law at Harvard Law School. She is an outspoken critic of America's credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class."

Among the news items that pop up, we find this video piece on labour law in Hong Kong:

"Legal and human resources professionals in Hong Kong will have a growing role advising foreign firms on the Mainland's new Labour Contract Law, which is expected to be enacted soon. So says Stella Hou, General Manager of human resources consultancy, Hewitt Associates. She says the new regulations will oblige Mainland employers -- including foreign-invested enterprises -- to re-think their terms of employment. For example, "term" contracts can't be terminated by employers at will under the new law. Ms Hou says the requirement for basic regulation compliance to enhance China's national theme for a "harmonious society" will give Hong Kong HR professional firms plenty to interpret for their clients."

You can generate a list of these topics and more, by going to YouTube.com and searching for "Contract Law."

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:56 AM | Permalink

Here is the list of new titles the Law Library acquired in April 2008. The list is on the library's home page.

April Acquisitions

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:31 AM | Permalink

Facts listed in the March/April 2008 issue of Training. You can read the full article, "It's Not Easy being Green" in EBSCO Business Source Premier.

Photo by kenofseattle

Did You Know?

• 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333 sheets.

• 1 ream of paper (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree.

• The average cost of a wasted page is $0.06, and the average employee prints 6 wasted pages per day--1,410 wasted pages per year at a cost of $84 per employee.

• The average U.S. office worker prints 10,000 pages a year.

• In 2004, the U.S. used 8 million tons of office paper (3.2 billion reams)--the equivalent of 178 million trees.

• The U.S. uses enough office paper each year to build a 10-foot-high wall that's 6,815 miles long. That's more than the distance from New York to Tokyo.

• Production of 1 ton of copy paper uses 11,134 kWh (the same amount of energy an average household uses in 10 months).

• Making a single sheet of copy paper can use more than 13 ounces of water--more than a typical soda can.

• Production of 1 ton of copy paper produces 19,075 gallons of waste water; 2,278 pounds of solid waste; and 5,690 pounds of green house gases (the equivalent of 6 months of car exhaust).

• It takes 3 tons of wood to produce 1 ton of copy paper.

SOURCE: GREENPRINT, A SOFTWARE COMPANY DEVOTED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, http://WWW.PRINTGREENER.COM/EARTHDAY.HTML.
Via Reference Services Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 09:50 AM | Permalink

Changes to the Key Number System

On May 12, West plans to release significant changes to the Key Number System. Attorney editors have completed the reclassification of over 500,000 headnotes. The improvements include the following:

A large portion of the topic CRIMINAL LAW has been revised and expanded to account for recent changes in the law relating to the right to counsel, effectiveness of counsel, conduct and argument of either prosecuting attorneys or defense counsel, authentication of evidence, mistrial, regulation of trial, and standards of review on appeal.

Revisions have been made to the topic SENTENCING AND PUNISHMENT relating to application of the Sentencing Guidelines.

Dozens of other areas of the Key Number System have been given minor improvements, particularly in the topics AUTOMOBILES, INNKEEPERS, INSURANCE, and NEGLIGENCE

Changes to the Key Number System do not affect a researcher’s ability to search by a former classification number. West tracks the former Key Number next to the updated classification, so Westlaw can be searched using old or new numbers. Depending upon the total impact on the bound print volumes, the reclassified headnotes may go into the pocket part.

Questions about these changes or Westlaw research in general? Contact the Law Library Reference Office at 612-625-4309 or law-ref@umn.edu.

Source: Tom Duggan, Manager, Librarian Relations, Thomson West Company

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:24 AM | Permalink

The Office of the Revisor of Statutes has added all the historic Minnesota session laws, from 1849 to 1993, to the Legislature's web site. They are all keyword-searchable.

Since this event happens to coincide with the state's sesquicentennial, Revisor Michele Timmons issued a press release: https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/press.php.

Direct URL to the new access to old laws: https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/laws/

Source: Barb Golden, State Law Librarian, MN State Law Library

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:29 AM | Permalink

In this occasional feature, we highlight recently asked questions and brief answers from the Law Library reference desk.

Q: I need to research the legislative history of an old Minnesota statute. Are there records of debates and committee meetings available?
A: No, the earliest records (audio tapes) of Minnesota legislative sessions and committee meetings start in 1991.

Q: I need a form for incorporating a non-profit corporation in Minnesota. Do you have one?
A: Yes--we recommend the Annotated document series of the Minnesota State Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education. Annotated form of mission statement, articles of incorporation and bylaws for a nonprofit corporation / prepared by J. Patrick Plunkett. TC Law Library KF209 .M54x 2000 no.1625 One Week Loan

Q: I know I need my parents' permission to get a tattoo in Minnesota (I'm 15), but how about Wisconsin?
A: In Wisconsin, you must be 18 to get a permanent tattoo, even with parental consent. See especially WI Administrative Code section HFS 173.05(1)(b).

Have your own reference question? Call or email the reference desk at 612-625-4309 or law-ref@umn.edu.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 12:31 PM | Permalink

Kenji Yoshino, Yale Law Professor (joining NYU School of Law in the fall), has contributed his thoughts on "Shakespeare and the Law" to Bigthink, a website devoted to "direct, unfiltered interviews with today's leading thinkers, movers and shakers."
Photo: umjanedoan, flickr.com

Among his interesting comments:

"Civil rights does not belong to lawyers--civil rights belongs to all of us."

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:52 AM | Permalink

Family Responsibility Discrimination (also called "caregiver discrimination") is "discrimination against workers who have family caregiving responsibilities" and it can affect both women and men, parents of children and children of the elderly. The Center for Worklife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law is a great resource for learning about this type of discrimination. It offers information about recent cases, model policies, state and local statutes, reports, summaries and much more.

Source: The Virtual Library Cat's Eye View blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:41 AM | Permalink