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.
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.
]]>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!
]]>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
]]>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."
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• 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
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
]]>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
]]>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.
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Photo: umjanedoan, flickr.com
Among his interesting comments:
"Civil rights does not belong to lawyers--civil rights belongs to all of us."He is writing a book on Shakespeare and the Law and hopes to bring non-lawyers to have conversations about justice through the texts of Shakespeare. Previous writings include: The Lawyer of Belmont, 9 Yale J. L. & Humanities 183 (1997), Why Bush Is Our Most Shakespearean President (posted on the Slate blog), and Covering : the hidden assault on our civil rights (NY: Random House, 2006).]]>
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.
]]>A thorough bibliography of the most current and helpful Treatises, Hornbooks, Nutshells & Study Aids for Law Courses is available at: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/studyaidpubs.html The most recent editions of the books on this list are in the reserve collection, available by request at the circ desk.
Other study aids and information about study facilities, including sample course exams, bar review exams, and conference/study room information, are available at: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/obsolete/tools/studyaids.html
Over 50 research guides and pathfinders have been compiled by the Law Library’s reference librarians. The guides are posted here: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders-directory.html
Still not finding the right research tool or study guide? Make sure to stop by the reference desk and ask a reference librarian for help.
Reference Office hours are: M-Th 9 am – 8 pm; F 9 am -5 pm; Sat 11 am-5 pm; Sun 1-5 pm.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions. We’re happy to help you prepare for exams…just let us know how we can help! You can email the reference office at law-ref@umn.edu or send a general inquiry to the library at lawlib@umn.edu.
]]>We have posted signs near the area and would appreciate your cooperation in keeping this part of the library as quiet as possible.
When studying in this area please be sure to:
• turn-off the sound on your laptop,
• turn-off or silence your cell phone,
• and refrain from talking.
Please avoid walking through this area, unless you plan to study there, and please keep voices low in nearby areas as well.
If you are looking for a place to study in a group, please check at the circulation desk for an available study room.
Thank you.
You can generate a list of these topics and more, by going to YouTube.com and searching for "Employment Law."
Source: Career Revolution Blog
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