Law Librarian Blog

Justice John Paul Stevens on President Ford

From ABC News: "Justice Appointed by Ford Remembers the Late President."   [RJ]

AAUP Releases New Numbers on Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

From the press release: "The AAUP Contingent Faculty Index 2006 provides data specific to individual college and university campuses on the number of full-time faculty with and without tenure, the number of part-time faculty, and the number of graduate student employees. Together, the categories of contingent faculty—both full- and part-time faculty whose positions are not on the tenure track—comprised 65 percent of all faculty in 2003, and their numbers continue to grow. Because academic freedom for contingent faculty members is not assured, and because contingent instructors are generally not provided with the level of institutional support required to deliver a quality education, the emergence of a contingent faculty represents a fundamental change in the nature of higher education."  [RJ]

'Atrocity' cases test US military justice

Interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor: "Three cases focus attention on how the military handles abuse and the killing of prisoners and civilians."  [RJ]

Brewing With Stina: What to drink while setting those New Year’s Resolutions into motion

This year, I have resolved to do only one thing more often:  floss.  Every year, I write a long list of resolutions (seriously, last year’s list was somewhere around 52 items, of which I accomplished…7) that just mock me.  So, this year I am taking the advice of my dentist and will put more effort into flossing.  This may in turn mean less time in the dental chair, thus resulting in fewer dollars being spent on dental work, meaning saving more…See?  Flossing can lead to great things.

With resolutions in mind…

For those of you resolving to lose a few pounds around the middle:

Light Import Lagers- I don’t think I can actually offer up brands, but they have done great things with light beer.  Just DO NOT buy any beer that advertises using a gym as a backdrop.

For those of you thinking about saving more money this year:

Happy Hour- Most happy hours offer at least one well-known beer at a good price.  If you are curious as to what happy hour’s are available in your area, you can always go online and check to see if anyone has compiled a list of wallet-friendly bar times in your area. Check out http://www.drunkafterwork.com/

For those of you looking to “get out and do more this year”:

Beer Festivals- Believe me, nothing is more socially involved then fighting through throngs of people to get to beer in an outdoor (or indoor) setting.  And with all that jostling of crowds and spilling of beer, conversation is bound to happen.  For a list of local festivals in your area, check out http://www.beerfestivals.org/.

Happy New Year everyone!

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle) and Beer Judge (BJCP)

Borat Must Be Proud!

LC’s Federal Research Division has updated its Profile of Kazakhstan.  [RJ]

Top 10 Sentencing Stories from 2006

Check out the Top 10 sentencing stories from 2006 on OSU Law Prof Douglas Berman's Sentencing Law & Policy Blog. [JH]

Lock the Library! Rowdy Students Are Taking Over!

Humorous story from the N.Y. Times: 'In New Jersey, one library has grown frustrated by middle schoolers’ mix of pent-up energy, hormones and nascent independence."  [RJ]

The Impact of Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders and Correctional Management Practices: A Literature Review

Interesting report from the California Research Bureau:

"The residency of convicted sex offenders released from confinement continues to be an issue of public concern. This report was requested by California Assembly Member Mark Leno, and examines local ordinances and state statutes across the country that restrict where a sex offender may legally live, and the constitutional implications of such restrictions. The report also discusses comprehensive risk assessment tools identified by the latest research. " 

See also: Anti-sex-offender zoning laws challenged, from Stateline.org  [RJ]

Readex Adds Two New Digital Editions of Government Publications to Archive of Americana

Excerpts from the Company's December 22, 2006 press release:

Readex ... has published digital editions of the original printings of early U.S. Congressional Journals from the late-18th century and into the 19th century. Complementing Readex digital editions of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set and American State Papers, these Web-based editions—House and Senate Journals, Series I, 1789-1817 and Senate Executive Journals, Series I, 1789-1866—enable students and scholars to study, as never before, political actions and proceedings in the first 75 years of U.S. history. Together these two new collections shed light on key events as they occurred and influential decisions as they were made.

....

Historically significant topics covered in the House and Senate Journals, Series I, 1789-1817 include the Constitutional Convention, the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments, Alexander Hamilton, and the Fugitive Slave Act. Senate Executive Journals, Series 1, 1789-1866 records executive proceedings in which early American senators deliberated on Indian treaties, Spanish-American relations, the Monroe Doctrine, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark's expedition, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation and more.

For more information on these Archive of Americana collections, visit www.readex.com. [JH]

What Was -- and Wasn't on the Public's Mind in 2006

Poll Analysis from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.  [RJ]

AALS Scholarly Papers Competition Awards

Professor Rashmi Dyal-Chand (Northeastern) is the winner of this year’s AALS Scholarly Papers Competition. Professor Rashmi Dyal-Chand will present her paper, “Human Worth as Collateral,” at the AALS Scholarly Papers Presentation. The program will be held tonight from 4:00 to 5:45 p.m. in the Hoover Room on the Mezzanine Level of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

The Scholarly Papers Committee also chose two papers to receive Honorable Mention Awards: “Essentially a Mother” by Professor Jennifer Hendricks ( Tennessee) and “Underenforcement,” by Professor Alexandra Natapoff (Loyola-Los Angeles). Professors Hendricks and Natapoff will also have an opportunity to speak about their papers at the Scholarly Papers program at the Annual Meeting.

Professor Rashmi Dyal-Chand's Human Worth as Collateral

From the Introduction: A powerful convergence is occurring among radically different markets for credit. Lenders with little else in common are using human worth1 as collateral in credit transactions. Yet laws governing both secured and unsecured lending have failed to recognize this new collateralization so completely that the idea of human worth as collateral seems quite shocking. This failure suggests that the formal rule of law is a less effective disseminator of utilitarian norms than its proponents believe, while the globalizing market for credit is quite effective. The emergence of this new collateralization thus challenges the primacy of the rule of law at a time when many are touting it as the key to economic development.

This article examines two modern examples of this new collateralization that are at geographical, economic, and cultural extremes. The first occurs in the context of credit card lending to consumers in the United States. The second occurs in microlending programs used widely in developing countries as a means of economic development of the poor. The first involves middle class2 people in the First World.3 The second example involves impoverished women in the Third World. The two socio-cultural settings could not be more distinct. Yet, stated bluntly, in both cases human worth has taken on a new role as a market asset: the subject of quantification, collateralization, and diminution.

Professor Jennifer Hendricks' Essentially a Mother

Abstract: This article connects the constitutional jurisprudence of the family to debates over reproductive technology and surrogacy. Despite the outpouring of literature on reproductive technologies, courts and scholars have paid little attention to the constitutional foundation of parental rights. Focusing on the structural/political function of parental rights, I argue that a gestational mother has a constitutional claim to be recognized as a legal parent.

I begin with the “unwed father cases” from the 1970s. Despite believing that natural sex differences justified distinctions in parental rights, the Court crafted a test giving men parental rights if they established relationships with their biological children. I argue that this test was modeled on what the Court saw as the essential attributes of motherhood. I offer this reading as an alternative to the standard feminist critique that the unwed father cases are notable only for their zeal to enforce the traditional family. I also show how the theoretical approach of these cases supports feminist claims for equal treatment despite biological difference (such as accommodation of pregnancy).

Turning to current debates, my focus is on divided motherhood: usually surrogacy contracts, but also embryo mix-ups at fertility clinics. Rather than following existing precedent on parental rights, the law of high-tech parenthood is tending sharply in the direction of denigrating gestation, defining parenthood exclusively in terms of genes or contracts. I show that conferring parental rights on gestational mothers would produce better outcomes and be more consistent with the best aspects of existing constitutional precedents.

Professor Alexandra Natapoff's Underenforcement

Abstract: In numerous U.S. communities and institutions, the government openly and systematically fails to enforce the criminal law. Law enforcement officials know they will not enforce certain laws; victims expect to be unprotected; violators realize they will go unpunished. In these “underenforcement zones,” such official practices can generate violence, social decay, and often represent distinct forms of discrimination and democratic failure. And yet, underenforcement remains underappreciated. Unlike “overenforcement,” which has become an infamous symbol of racial bias and undemocratic policing, the role of underenforcement in shaping the criminal justice landscape has largely escaped scrutiny. This Article conceptualizes underenforcement as a powerful socio-legal phenomenon in its own right. It documents widespread underenforcement practices and describes the kinds of harms it can cause to vulnerable groups and communities. Not all underenforcement is pernicious: it can, for example, reflect appropriate governmental restraint, or the necessities of overbroad codes. This Article thus proposes a descriptive framework for distinguishing between the appropriate and the problematic. It also relocates underenforcement within three ongoing scholarly debates over: law enforcement discretion, democratic policing, and the state's constitutional obligation to provide minimal law enforcement protection. Underenforcement not only poses significant theoretical challenges in these arenas, but is a major contributor to some of the most dysfunctional aspects of the criminal system.

Brain Drain Hits Major Law Firms

From the N.Y. Post:  "The city's largest, most prestigious law firms are suffering from serious brain drain.  Young, Gen-X lawyers in their third to fifth year in the business are walking away from their $200,000-a-year positions in record numbers - at times without another job in view. The reason? They are unhappy with their Blackberry lifestyle - being tethered to the job 24/7 and having to rush back to the office at a moment's notice when e-mail orders pop up on the ubiquitous PDA."  [RJ]

Recent Publications in Cambridge UP's Information Technology and the Law Series

• Coding Regulation: Essays on the Normative Role of Information Technology
• Cybercrime and Jurisdiction: A Global Survey
• Regulating Spam: A European Perspective After the Adoption of the e-Privacy Directive
• Unravelling the Myth around Open Source Licences: An Analysis from a Dutch and European Law Perspective
• Starting Points for ICT Regulation: Deconstructing Prevalent Policy One-liners

Coding Regulation
Essays on the Normative Role of Information Technology
Edited by Egbert Dommering, Lodewijk Asscher

Hardback (ISBN-13: 9789067042291 | ISBN-10: 9067042293)
Published November 2006 | 316 pages | 160 x 245 mm | $90.00 (C)

The collected essays in this book discuss the interaction between law and technology and the normative role of information technology. More precisely, this book focuses on the way information and communication technologies regulate our behaviour. Can information technology be an alternative for legal regulation and, if so, what are the risks? Can technology be used to circumvent constitutional safeguards? Is technology regulation just another form of self-regulation? Is regulation through technology distorting traditional balances of rights? Those are all questions that are discussed from different angles, and with different legal perspectives. The essays also discuss more general issues of legitimacy, and of transparency of the normative role of information technologies. We hope to provide a meaningful contribution to the lively debate on the relationship between law and information technology.

Cybercrime and Jurisdiction
A Global Survey
Edited by Bert-Jaap Koops, Susan W. Brenner

Hardback (ISBN-13: 9789067042215 | ISBN-10: 9067042218)
Published July 2006 | 374 pages | 245 x 160 mm | $95.00 (C)

Combating cybercrime requires law-enforcement expertise, manpower, legislation, and policy priorities within the ambit of crime-fighting. Because of the utterly transnational character of cybercrime, countries must focus on international investigation and prosecution. As cultural and legal traditions play a major part in countries' views on the exercise of criminal law and sovereignty, a unified approach to this phenomenon requires serious reflection. This book intends to contribute to a more concerted international effort towards effectively fighting cybercrime by offering an in-depth survey of views and practices in various jurisdictions. It includes chapters on the Council of Europe's Cybercrime Convention and on international co-operation in criminal matters. Thirteen country reports, written by experts in the field, are included in alphabetical order. The book concludes by discussing one of the most urgent steps that needs to be taken: resolving positive jurisdictional conflicts when several jurisdictions seek to prosecute a cybercriminal at the same time.

Regulating Spam
A European perspective after the Adoption of the e-Privacy Directive
Lodewijk F. Asscher, Sjo Anne Hoogcarspel

Hardback (ISBN-13: 9789067042208 | ISBN-10: 906704220X)
Published July 2006 | 166 pages | 245 x 160 mm | $70.00 (C)

This book presents an evaluation of recent legislative initiatives against unsolicited commercial e-mail ('spam') in the European Union. It provides an analysis of the meaning and interpretation of the new regulatory regime for unsolicited communications within the EU, and also addresses international aspects of the fight against spam, namely intra-European activities and supranational policies addressing the issue. It introduces some of the dilemmas of dealing with spam and the importance of effective enforcement mechanisms. The book aims to provide recommendations for further research as well as practical policy measures.

Unravelling the Myth around Open Source Licences
An Analysis from a Dutch and European Law Perspective
Lucie Guibault, Ot van Daalen

Hardback (ISBN-13: 9789067042147 | ISBN-10: 9067042145)
Published April 2006 | 224 pages | 245 x 160 mm | $70.00 (C)

A number of legal challenges need to be addressed in order to ensure the most efficient deployment of open content licences in Europe and in the Netherlands, not least because most open source licences originate from the US. This study gives an overview of the current legal situation regarding the use of open source software licences and investigates how the most commonly used open source software licences measure up to Dutch and European law. How does the distinct production and distribution model of open source licences fit in the current legal framework? Does the current legal environment support the use of open source licences or impede their use? In this last case, would certain adaptations to the law or to the licence terms be appropriate? By their in-depth analysis and clear conclusions, the authors amply contribute to the understanding of this complex field that policy makers, regulators, and academics require.

Starting Points for ICT Regulation
Deconstructing Prevalent Policy One-liners
Edited by Bert-Jaap Koops, Miriam Lips, Corien Prins, Maurice Schellekens

Hardback (ISBN-13: 9789067042161 | ISBN-10: 9067042161)
Published May 2006 | 310 pages | 245 x 160 mm | $90.00 (C)

What does the term 'on-line' mean? When do we actually enter the on-line environment and leave the 'off-line' world? Is it different, separate, or even unique compared to the off-line world? In what cases do we need to regulate it, and how? These have become important, but complex questions for law-makers, policy-makers, regulators, and politicians who design regulatory frameworks to address societal changes related to fast-moving technological developments. In order to more consistently and effectively deal with ICT and Internet regulation, governments and international organizations have developed regulatory 'starting points', such as 'what holds off-line, must hold on-line' and 'regulation should be technology-neutral'. This book questions these regulatory starting points in detail and systematically explores their application, meaning and value for international e-regulation.

Microsoft RSS Patents Anger Critics

Interesting article from Newsfactor.com:

"Responding to critics who fear Microsoft's patent applications may mean that the company plans to charge bloggers for using RSS technology, Microsoft's RSS project manager Sean Lindersay, says not so. The patent applications "do not constitute a claim that Microsoft invented RSS," wrote Lindersay in the Microsoft blog."  [RJ]

IT - From Innovation to Considerations With Respect to Implementation

Two "small picture" considerations and one "large picture" aspiration for the implementation of information technology, services and products are the topics of a post I published at Law School Innovation today. Check it out. [JH]

The 2006 Blawggies: Dennis Kennedy's Best Law-related Blogging Awards

May I have the envelope please...

• Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog
• Best Overall Law Practice Management Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income
• The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog - Evan Schaeffer's The Illinois Trial Lawyer Weblog
• Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs and Canadian Law-related Blogs (Tie)
• Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog and Bob Ambrogi's and Carolyn Elefant's Law.com Inside Opinions (Tie)
• Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs
• Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Coast to Coast Podcast
• The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Tony Colleluori's That Lawyer Dude
• Best Law Professor Blog - Tung Yin's The Yin Blog
• Best New Law-related Blog - Peter Lattman's WSJ.com Law Blog and Adriana Linares' I Heart Tech (Tie)
• Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

Read the commentary.  Thanks again for the nod to law librarian blogs. [JH & RJ]

Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians for 2006

From Judicial Watch: Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2006.  List Also Includes 5 "Dishonorable Mentions".  [RJ] 

Recent GlobLex Research Guides

In December 2006, GlobaLex published the following new research guides and updates to previously published guides:

• Immigration Law - A Comparative Approach -- Guide to Immigration Law of Australia, Canada and the United States  by Annmarie Zell
• Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Legal System and Research by Omar Sial
• UPDATE: Basic Guide to Researching Foreign Law by Mary Rumsey
• UPDATE: A Guide to Fee-Based U. S. Legal Research Databases by Mary Rumsey
• UPDATE: Researching the United Nations: Finding the Organization's Internal Resource Trails by Linda Tashbook

Kudos to Mirela Roznovschi, GlobaLex editor, for another great year of aiding legal researchers. [JH]

New Reviews Published in Law & Politics Book Review

From the December issue of Law & Politics Book Review:

• Graber, Mark A. Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil.
• Merry, Sally Engle. Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice.
• O’Brien, Kevin J., and Lianjiang Li. Rightful Resistance in Rural China.
• Finn, Daniel K. The Moral Ecology of Markets: Assessing Claims about Markets and Justice..
• Fisher, Louis.  In the Name of National Security: Unchecked Presidential Power and the Reynolds Case.
• Jarecke, George W., and Nancy K. Plant.  Seeking Civility: Common Courtesy and the Common Law.
• Scales, Ann. Legal Feminism: Activism, Lawyering and Legal Theory.
• Berman, Greg, and John Feinblatt.  Good Courts: The Case for Problem-Solving Justice.
• Cram, Ian. Contested Words: Legal Restrictions on Freedom of Speech in Liberal Democracies.
• Dwyer, James G. The Relationship Rights of Children. .
• Fleury-Steiner, Benjamin, and Laura Beth Nielsen (eds). The New Civil Rights Research: A Constitutive Approach.

2006 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends

New report from Towers Perrin:  "U.S. tort costs total $261 billion in 2005, according to Tillinghast study — Growth rate for tort costs is the smallest since 1997." [RJ]