LexLibris

New Online Archive of Policy Research Launched
Policy Archive plans to become the largest free online repository of public policy research in the world. At its launch this month, the repository already contains over 12,000 policy documents from over 220 think tanks and other research organizations. It will house up to 20,000 documents by the end of 2008 according to the Project's press release (pdf). See also: Description of the Policy Archive Project (pdf) and List of Current Content Contributors (pdf).

In addition to a site search engine, you can browse by author, funder, publisher and topics.

SCOTUSblog's Statistical Analysis of the Supreme Court Term
SCOTUSblog has published its "Super StatPack" compilation of statistics with charts, lists, and observations about the just-concluded Supreme Court Term. Here's the complete report (pdf).

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 01:50 PM | Permalink

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

June Acquisitions

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 01:46 PM | Permalink

The Saint Paul Public Library is teaming up with local and national experts to host several Saint Paul-itics events in order to present information about election, national convention, and other political topics to the public.

A regional and national speaker series will be held Tuesday evenings in August and feature:

August 5: The Citizen Solution: How You Can Make a Difference
Harry C. Boyte, a nationally known community organizer and activist, will present his new book, The Citizen Solution: How You Can Make a Difference. Harry Boyte is the author of several books, and a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

August 12: Do Political Conventions Matter Anymore?
Tom Hauser, Chief Political Reporter, KSTP Eyewitness News, will provide an inside look at the presidential race and talk about upcoming national conventions and if they matter as much as they used to.

August 19: The 2008 Election: What’s at Stake?
Susan Estrich, a legal and political analyst and author, is one of the nation’s leading legal scholars and public intellectuals. She is known for her quick wit and humor on FOX News where she regularly appears and was the first woman ever to run a national presidential campaign. Book signing to follow.

August 26: A Political Conversation for Everyone
Bill Arnold, Triple Espresso playwright and performer, will chat about the lighter side of politics and inspire individuals and groups to be more civically involved in unique and fun ways.

More events (including time and place for the events above), web links, and information about Saint Paul-itics can be found at: http://saintpaulitics.org/

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:05 AM | Permalink

The Bard is well known for his characters’ comments apropos of all things legal. This Time magazine article from 1964 offers an amusing overview of Shakespeare’s wittier references to the law.

Photo by umjanedoan via Flickr

Source: Virtual Library Cat's Eye View blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:38 AM | Permalink

From Cornell Law Library’s InSITE:
Interviews of United States Supreme Court Justices
http://lawprose.org/supreme_court.php

This site is put out by LawProse, a “provider of CLE training in legal writing, editing, and drafting.� While most of the LawProse website focuses on advertising their services and training sessions, this section of the site provides video interviews with eight of the nine current Supreme Court justices, voicing their thoughts on legal writing and advocacy. The videos are available free of charge. Windows Media Player or a Mac WMV plug-in are needed to view the videos. There are also additional archived interviews from judges and lawyers across the country. Those interviews can be found under the heading "Educational Video Clips" and cover a number of different topics, but focus primarily on legal writing and related issues. This site is beneficial to lawyers and law students looking for advice on how to improve their writing skills.

From How Stuff Works blog:
How Supreme Court Appointments Work
http://people.howstuffworks.com/supreme-court-appointment.htm

In this article, we'll find out how Supreme Court justices are nominated, who is qualified to serve and how a nominee is approved. We'll also try to sort out the complicated politics that come into play when a justice is nominated.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:30 AM | Permalink

H.W. Wilson and MLA to make article-level records available in OCLC WorldCat.org

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 18 June 2008—Database producers H.W. Wilson and MLA have agreed to make article-level records available in WorldCat.org, increasing visibility and access to authoritative content licensed by libraries on the Web.

MLA and H.W. Wilson will permit a portion of their content to be indexed in WorldCat.org, the Web destination that allows information seekers to find what they need from a single source, online through OCLC’s cooperative organization of libraries.

The article-level metadata from H.W. Wilson and MLA will be added to the more than 50 million articles indexed from NLM MEDLINE, the Department of Education’s ERIC database, the British Library Inside serials, the GPO Monthly Catalog and the OCLC ArticleFirst® database to expand access and discovery of authoritative content through WorldCat.org.

OCLC will continue to add article-level records to WorldCat.org to enrich the search experience, and make collections from libraries more visible on the Web.

Read more...

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:44 AM | Permalink

In this month's Minnesota Monthly magazine, incoming Law School Dean David Wippman offers these thoughts on law school rankings. (The article is at http://www.mnmo.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/July-2008/Winds-of-Change/ if you scroll almost to the bottom)

Objection! The U’s law school grapples with a slip in the rankings
—BETH HAWKINS

When David Wippman takes over as dean of the University of Minnesota Law School on July 1, he’ll have his work cut out for him: This past spring, for the first time in 12 years, U.S. News & World Report announced that the school had dropped out of the top 20 in the magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s law schools.

U faculty have long claimed that the scores have little relationship to a school’s overall quality. Midway down the list, the differences between, say, 15th and 16th place can amount to little more than a few odd factors—like the number of books in the school’s library. Wippman argues that the formula can “create some perverse incentives� for schools to game the numbers (buying more volumes for the stacks, for example). Still, he’s happy to highlight the spots where the U is a standout: “On one measure, peer reputation…

Minnesota is still doing very well,� Wippman says.

Administrators concede that the list has a major impact on a school’s ability to recruit students and faculty, place graduates in sought-after jobs, and tease dollars from alumni pockets. “We do hear from lots of students that it is something they pay attention to,� says Wippman, who already has his finger on the school’s pulse. “If the ranking falls, alumni express concern. If it goes up, they are appreciative of that.�

Wippman, a Minnesota native, most recently did double duty as a vice provost and law professor at Cornell University, which, incidentally, is number 12 on the list. Not that anyone’s keeping track.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:18 AM | Permalink

Photo by nichole45 via flickr

An occasional feature, "Law Library Staff Recommend..." highlights books that Law Library staff members have read for enjoyment and now recommend that others consider for inclusion on their own reading lists. Summer reading brings out the lemonade and a great variety of book genre, from the latest spy novel to controversial scientific theories and reports, and we are delighted to summarize and share our reading experiences with you. If you have any comments or questions about any of the titles presented in this feature, feel free to email lawlib@umn.edu or stop by the library. Our first installment highlights two staff recommendations: If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind by Vilmos Csanyi and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind (Hardcover) by Vilmos Csanyi
Written by a Hungarian ethologist (animal behavior scientist), this book offers a fascinating look at the mind of a dog. Csanyi starts by describing wolf behavior, then contrasting it with the behavior of wolf descendants (domestic dogs). He draws on scientific studies of dog behavior to explore their abilities and their cognitive limits; anecdotes of specific dog behavior illustrate his points and make the book more entertaining. This book should appeal to dog owners, dog lovers, and anyone interested in evolutionary biology.

The Pillars of the Earth (Paperback) by Ken Follett
Ken Follett has written many books, but The Pillars of the Earth is his most popular and the title he is most proud of, according to his website: http://www.ken-follett.com/bibliography/the_pillars_of_the_earth.html
The book is an inter-connected tale spanning thirty years in 12th century England, following the lives of certain characters who are trying to build a cathedral. There are kings and queens, knights, maidens, invasions, attacks, poverty, hunger, and a real view of the inner workings of the politics of villages, monasteries, while enduring revenge and curses. It's an intriguing and highly engaging story that urges you on to find out whether the cathedral will ever be built. It's very easy reading, with quite graphic depictions of the brutalities of the times, with characters who are easy to identify with, with just enough complexity to make them interesting, yet are fairly easy to categorize as protagonist or antogonist.

The website for the book includes study and discussion guides, as well as character introductions and more.

BONUS from Law Librarian Blog:
A Very Short Reading List for Incoming 1Ls
There are two classics every incoming 1L should read before starting law school but my sense is that many turn them away because they are not written in a style that resonates with our younger students. I'm referring, of course, to Karl N Llewellyn's The Bramble Bush (three copies on Reserve at KF273 .L58 1951, we also have an electronic version you can access if you are on campus), recently republished by Oxford UP, and Edward H. Levi's An Introduction to Legal Reasoning(KF425 .L48 or two copies in Storage at X-24,994).

In addition to those two works, I always recommend Helene Shapo and Marshall Shapo's Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success (Foundation Press, 2002) (KF386 .S44 2002 and two copies of the older edition at KF386 .S44 1996). Helene Shapo and Marshall Shapo are law professors who compiled this book of practical advice for their son, a law student. The book discusses in simple terms what law students need to know about law school and how to get the most out the law school experience. The text also discusses the problems law students encounter most frequently and solutions to those problems. Topics covered include briefing a case, precedent and how to use it, balancing competing interests and factors, legal writing, and psychological tips for the study of law.

For the "what should I read" question asked by incoming 1Ls (or admissions directors wanting to send students a reading list during the summer), we librarians can easily compile an extensive bibliography but I lean toward providing a very short guided reading list instead. The above three titles plus Carolyn J. Nygren's Starting Off Right in Law School (Carolina Academic Press, 1997) (KF273 .N97 1997) which melds information about the legal system usually found in legal methods books with information about study skills usually found in books with a "how to succeed in law school" focus is in my opinion sufficient.

See also: The Summer Before Law School? by Alan Childress on Legal Profession Blog and Law Vibe's Top 10 Law Student Books (based on Amazon sales for the last three months).

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 07:16 AM | Permalink

Local lawyers anxiously await Exxon Valdez decision
By Judith Yates Borger
Monday, June 23, 2008

Twin Cities lawyers are all a twitter today waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the $2.5 billion damages in the Exxon Valdez case. This is the last week the court will be in session, and as of noon it had issued decisions in all but seven of the cases it has heard since October.

Read the full story at Minnpost.com

Source: Kenny Ronnan, Minnpost.com

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 06:50 PM | Permalink

Cancellation of law school loan in exchange for public service work wasn't included in income

Photo by curious_spider (Flickr)

Rev Rul 2008-34, 2008-28 IRB IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/

Summary. In a revenue ruling, the IRS has ruled that the forgiveness of a law student's loan in exchange for the borrower working for a certain period of time in a qualifying law-related public service position wasn't includible in his/her gross income. The revenue ruling clarified that a law school loan made under a Loan Repayment Assistance Program generally satisfies the requirements of Code Sec. 108(f).

Background. In the case of an individual, gross income doesn't include any amount which (but for this rule) would be includible in gross income by reason of the discharge of all or part of any student loan if the discharge was made under a provision of the loan that all or part of the indebtedness would be discharged if the individual worked for a certain period of time in certain professions for any of a broad class of employers. (Code Sec. 108(f)(1))

RIA illustration : A student received $100,000 under a medical educational loan program. Under the terms of the program, one-fifth of the loan (or $20,000) is canceled each year he practices medicine in a qualifying state hospital. He doesn't include those amounts in income.

Facts. An individual, who we'll call Joel, attended law school and accumulated debt on his student loan. Neither the loans nor the underlying loan documents addressed whether any of the indebtedness would be forgiven if Joel worked in a particular profession for a specified period of time. However, Joel's law school offered a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) to help reduce the student loan debt of graduates who engage in public service. The LRAP was designed to encourage graduates to enter into public service in occupations or areas with unmet needs. After Joel graduated from law school, he signed an LRAP promissory note and accepted the terms and conditions of the law school's LRAP loan.

Under the LRAP, the law school made loans that refinanced the graduates' original student loan(s). To qualify, a graduate had to work in a law-related public service position for, or under the direction of, a tax-exempt charitable organization or a governmental unit, including positions in: (1) a public interest or community service organization, (2) a legal aid office or clinic, (3) a prosecutor's office, (4) a public defender's office, or (5) a state, local, or federal government office. The LRAP loan amount was based on the graduate's outstanding student loan debt and annual income. After the graduate worked for the required period in a qualifying position, the law school forgave all or part of his LRAP loan.

Conclusions. In Rev Rul 2008-34, IRS concluded that the terms of the LRAP loan satisfied the requirements of Code Sec. 108(f)(1), and the LRAP loan was a “student loan� under Code Sec. 108(f)(2). Consistent with the requirement in Code Sec. 108(f)(1) to work in certain professions for a certain period of time, Joel's loan was forgiven under the terms of the LRAP loan, only if he worked for a certain minimum period of time in a qualifying law-related public service position.

Further, Rev Rul 2008-34 noted that the LRAP was designed to encourage its students to engage in public service in occupations or areas with unmet needs. All of the positions listed in the LRAP were for, or under the direction of, a governmental unit or a tax-exempt charitable organization. In addition, the LRAP loan was made to refinance A's original student loans.

RIA Research References: For cancellation of debt under student loan programs, see FTC 2d/FIN ¶ J-7508; United States Tax Reporter ¶ 1084.04; TaxDesk ¶ 188,006.

Source: Federal Taxes Weekly Alert (preview) 06/26/2008, Volume 54, No. 26 via RIA Newsstand 6/23/08 (Part of Westlaw's Checkpoint Resources) via Ref Librarian Mary Rumsey

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:16 AM | Permalink

The name of the ABA Real Property, Probate & Trust Journal has been changed to: “Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal.�

This change is effective for Volume 43, Issue # 1 of the Journal, soon to be distributed to subscribers. The name change mirrors the change of the name of the ABA Section. The prior cover was blue and gray in color, the new cover is a startling green and more modest blue.

Link to: the journal's website: http://www.abanet.org/rppt/publications/journal/home.html

Link to: the ABA Section on Real Property, Trust and Estate Law: http://www.abanet.org/rpte/home.html

Source: Sara S. Repinski, Acquisitions Librarian, Coleman Karesh Law Library, University of South Carolina School of Law

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:26 AM | Permalink

The Law Library announces a new guide designed for attorneys.

The guide compiles information about the privileges attorneys enjoy at Twin Cities area law libraries, as well as the actual borrowing procedure and contacts at each library. The guide will be updated as changes to policies or procedures occur.

Access this guide directly: http://local.law.umn.edu/uploads/images/6676/Guide_to_Atty_Borrowing_Privileges.pdf

The guide is also found under both the "Law Alumni" and "Unaffiliated Users" tabs on the Law Library home page.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:14 AM | Permalink

National Career Development Blog

You may be familiar with Law Professor Blogs, especially since we share many of the Law Librarian Blog posts with you. One of the newest blogs on the site is the Career & Professional Development Blog.

Its contributors are law school and legal employer professionals from all over the country. Susan Gainen, Co-Director of the University of Minnesota Law School Career & Professional Development Center, is one of the two primary Editors, and you will see cross-postings from Vocare.

Link directly to this new blog at: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/lawcareer/

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 07:36 AM | Permalink

New Report Shows Rising Special Interest Pressure on Midwest Courts

New report from Justice at Stake: "A new report from Justice at Stake, The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great Lake States, 2000-2008, shows how the Midwest has become America’s leading judicial elections battleground. Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin are seeing a growing arms race between corporate interests, trial lawyers, ideological groups and political partisans who are committed to bending state judges to their will."

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 01:42 PM | Permalink

Introduction to Public International Law Research
http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Public_International_Law_Research.htm

Aspiring lawyers and academics hoping to peer into the world of public international law will be glad to learn about this site. Authored by lawyer and researcher Vicenc Feliu, this introduction to public international law research is offered up as part of the Hauser Global Law School Program at New York University's Law School. Published in May/June 2008, this thorough introduction includes a host of information about online and offline resources that will come in handy. After reading the introduction, visitors can browse around sections that offer up material on treaties, case law, and relevant journals. Along the way, visitors will also learn about the major players in public international law, such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Union.

Source: 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 08:49 AM | Permalink

Coming in July: a new debiting system for making photocopies in the Law Library!

The Law Library photocopiers on 1st and 2nd floor are being wired for a campus network debiting system. Please excuse the noise that may be associated with this project.

Starting in July (exact date TBA), users who wish to make photocopies will need to add value to their UCard, or if they do not have a UCard, a Gopher Gold card. The Library will no longer sell copy cards.

Gopher Gold cards can be purchased at the Library, and users can add value with cash or go online to add value with a credit card ($2 transaction fee applies to credit card use). Departments will obtain a departmental card from the UCard office and receive a monthly statement. For a limited time during summer and fall semester, users will be able to transfer value from their old copy cards (which will no longer work in the copiers) to their new cards.

More information wil be forthcoming as the transition nears, but you can find additional info now on the UCard office website at: http://www1.umn.edu/ucard/umtc/tcg4g.html

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:52 AM | Permalink

NEWS FROM THE FIELD--C&RL (College & Research Libraries) News, June 2008--Vol. 69, No. 6
by David Free

Civil Rights resources online
The University of Georgia Libraries and the Digital Library of Georgia recently launched the Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL), an initiative to deliver online educational content on the Civil Rights Movement. CRDL promotes an enhanced understanding of the movement through its three principal components: a digital video archive of historical news film of the Civil Rights Movement, a virtual library portal aggregating metadata from more than 75 libraries and allied organizations from across the nation, and instructional materials to facilitate the use of the video content in the learning process.

The centerpiece of CRDL is a collection of more than 30 hours of historical news film held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries. These moving images—about 450 clips—cover a broad range of key civil rights events, including the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957); the Atlanta Temple bombing (1958); Atlanta sit-ins (1960); Freedom Rides (1961); desegregation of the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech (1961); the Albany Movement (1961-1962); desegregation of Ole Miss (1962) and University of Alabama (1963); and the Americus Movement (1963, 1965).

In addition to the news film, the digital library includes related collections of original documentation, such as oral histories, letters, and photographs from libraries, archives, and museums. CRDL is freely available online at crdl.usg.edu.

You can read the whole June issue of C&RL News at: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2008/june08/june1.cfm

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 02:46 PM | Permalink

Recent News & Notes from Westlaw:

Timely Topics …First Focus
The First Focus website is a quick and easy way to see all available West resources about some of the most compelling and complex legal issues of the day through print, online tools and seminars. Found at http://west.thomson.com/products/first-focus/subprime.aspx, the first subject covered is the subprime mortgage crisis. Coming soon there will also be an option to subscribe to a current awareness email with links to legal analysis, trial court orders and pending legislation that would be delivered weekly.

Webinar Training Sessions
Free Webinar training helps sharpen your Westlaw® search skills, and helps you provide training for others. Anyone with a Westlaw password can join one of these free 30 minute sessions, so feel free to pass this link along to others in your organization. Some upcoming Webinar topics include, Public Records, Family Law, Estate Planning and Quickview+. To view a complete list of upcoming seminars by either date or topic, click here:
http://westapps.west.thomson.com/webinars/default.asp?

Search for Key Numbers tool: Don’t go home empty-handed!
Thanks to the Search for Key Numbers tool (released last November). (To access this tool, simply click on the Key Numbers link at the top of the screen.) It will appear as the first of three key number related options. Formerly, a search conducted here only retrieved related key numbers which had been assigned in the jurisdiction you searched. Now, you can use this tool to retrieve a list of jurisdiction-specific headnotes classified under a key number simply by clicking that key number. But what if no cases containing that key number exist in your jurisdiction? No problem.

As of April 12, 2008, a Search for Key Numbers result contains key numbers from cases in the jurisdiction
you selected plus as many as 10 additional key numbers from cases in other jurisdictions. The key numbers from these cases are in a new section called Additional Results from All Jurisdictions. As with the key numbers from your jurisdiction, you can click one of the additional key numbers to retrieve a list of headnotes and links to the full-text opinions. In addition, a Search for Key Numbers result now contains a ResultsPlus list that includes references to American Law Reports (ALR), American Jurisprudence 2d, and other analytical materials.

Example:
Suppose your client was injured by a foul ball while watching a baseball game in South Carolina and you need relevant opinions on liability. Access the Search for Key Numbers tool (click Key Numbers at the top of any Westlaw page), type "liability for foul ball injuries to spectator" in the text box, select South Carolina as the jurisdiction, and click Search.

You retrieve key numbers from South Carolina cases, followed by several more key numbers from other state and federal jurisdictions. One of these additional key numbers is 315TK109(2): Public Amusement and Entertainment>Injury from game, performance or activity>Balls, bats and pucks. Click the key number to retrieve a list of headnotes and links to the full-text opinions from other jurisdictions. In addition, you retrieve a ResultsPlus list that includes a link to the ALR annotation Liability to Spectator at Baseball Game Who Is Hit by Ball or Injured As Result of Other Hazards of Game.

Two WESTLAW Search Tips:
Q: Our firm just got its first medical malpractice case. Is there a fast way to determine my state’s statute of limitations, as well as any cap on noneconomic damages that my state may have?

A: Try the 50 State Surveys database (SURVEYS). Although SURVEYS allows you to compare the approaches of many states, SURVEYS also provides an easy way to retrieve a summary of a single state’s laws governing a common topic.

In this example, access SURVEYS and run a search such as non-economic /3 damages. Among the documents you retrieve is the Medical Malpractice–Tort Reform survey, which identifies the applicable statutes of limitation (including caps on noneconomic damages) of each state.

Q: KeyRules is a convenient way to gather together all the state and local rules pertaining to a procedure in my jurisdiction. However, the KeyRules document can be pretty long! If I want only the portion that deals with the required documents or the format, is there a fast way to jump just to that portion?

A: Click Section Outline in the left frame of the KeyRules document. The section names (e.g., Documents) are displayed in the left frame, along with short descriptions of each section (e.g., What documents need to be filed?). To display a particular section in the right frame, click the section name in the left frame.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:32 AM | Permalink

As reported in LPSS News (law & political science section of Association of College & Research Libraries/American Library Association), Volume 23, Number 2, Spring 2008 issue, p. 7:

In fall 2007 (volume 4, issue 1) the Journal of E-Government became the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (JITP). More changes are afoot, though the journal retains its affiliation with the organized section on Information Technology and Politics of the American Political Science Association.

The scope of the journal has changed in conjunction with the title, broadening from its previous focus on technology in the service of government. The new JITP looks at the influence and impact of technology on political processes as well as government. It reports on how evolving information tools are being used in the political and governmental arenas. The wider scope should expand the relevance of this journal beyond public administration collections and heighten its appeal to readers in political science, public affairs and policy studies, not to mention technology studies. The emphasis has shifted toward academic concerns and veered away from business and industry best practices.

You will be able to read more of the article and the entire issue online at: (issue not online as of June 9, 2008, but keep checking back if you are interested) http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections/lawpolisci/lpsspublications.cfm

Journal of Information Technology and Politics (JITP): print ISSN: 1933-1681; electronic ISSN: 1933-169X.
JITP can be sampled at http://www.jitp.net . Subscription price is US$45 for individuals and US$325 for institutions. The publisher, Haworth Press, will transition during 2008 to the Routledge imprint of Taylor & Francis and the Informaworld electronic interface.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 08:22 AM | Permalink

Summary:
"An independent investigation of the office by St. Thomas Law Dean Thomas Mengler cleared the Attorney General of wrongdoing related to her handling of cases in the office. In response to the investigation report, Attorney General Swanson fired the attorney who brought the original complaint." Read more at the UMN Law School Institute for Law and Politic's blog.

On June 3, 2008, the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released the results of a preliminary assessment of allegations concerning the Minnesota Attorney General´s Office. The results are presented in a letter to members of the Legislative Audit Commission. The commission members did not find a basis for further investigation by OLA.

Other sources have a different view of the investigation.
Read more at MinnPost.

Read the Commission's report.

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 07:56 AM | Permalink

National Archives Creates Plan for Online Access to Founding Fathers Papers
From the press release from May 7, 2008:

"Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein submitted a report, entitled The Founders Online, to the Committees on Appropriations of the U.S. Congress. This report is the National Archives response to concerns raised by the Committees that the complete papers of America’s Founding Fathers are not available online. The Founders Online is a plan for providing online access, within a reasonable timeframe, to researchers, students and the general public. The report is available electronically on the National Archives web site.

In announcing the completion of the report, Professor Weinstein said, “We feel this plan would provide scholars and the public access to the best available versions of the complete papers; it would also protect the longstanding interests of the publishers and host organizations which along with the Federal government have invested great resources in the past four decades. Most importantly, it would build a monument to the Founders of our nation in their own words.�

The National Archives received suggestions from the editors of the papers of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington, university publishers, and others in crafting a blueprint for providing access to the already completed print editions and the raw materials for the editions to come. If carried out, the plan ensures that interested readers worldwide can see the work in progress with the already complete editions accompanied by transcriptions of the papers yet to be published. To hasten the transition process, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission plans to invest $250,000 as a demonstration pilot project."

COPY OF ORIGINAL LETTER – William Duane to Thomas Jefferson, 14 Feb. 1813

Read the report: The Founders Online

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:16 AM | Permalink

Transitioning from One-L to Summer Legal Work is a series of 19 podcasts each by a different legal writing professor. The series was produced by Suffolk University Law School's Professors Gabriel Teninbaum and Kathleen Elliott Vinson. The title is a bit misleading since the advice offered is appropriate for all law students working this summer including recent graduates starting their legal careers. Law firm, corporate legal deparment and court librarians may want to share this resource with their summer and new full-time hires.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

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

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

May Acquisitions

Posted by University of Minnesota Law Library at 10:38 AM | Permalink