Law Librarian Blog

National Conference of Law Reviews Starts Today

Hosted by St. Thomas University School of Law this year [press release], the National Conference of Law Reviews "brings together law review editors from more than 100 law review journals across the nation to learn from leaders in the legal field in an effort to prepare law review boards to better serve both the academic and legal communities." Conference Agenda [JH]

Opening: Reference/Electronic Services Librarian, Pace Law Library

Pace Law Library invites applications for the position of reference/electronic services librarian.  This position is full time, and reports to the Head of Reference Services.

Responsibilities include:

• Providing reference service to members of the Pace community
• Providing research services to Pace Law School faculty
• Maintaining the Library website
• Teaching both basic and advanced legal research skills
• Coordinating electronic database subscriptions
• Participating in Library administration

Qualifications:

• ALA-accredited MLS
• ABA-accredited JD
• Law library experience preferred
• Proficiency in searching online databases
• Strong organizations skills
• Superior communication and interpersonal skills
• Flexibility and ability to work as part of a team

Apply via the careers@Pace website https://careers.pace.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1204744219047. 

Please include a cover letter that specifically addresses the job requirements, a current CV/resume, and the names and contact information for three professional references.

Timetable of Recent Political Sex Scandals

In conjunction with its coverage of the "Client 9" scandal involving NY Governor Eliot Spitzer, CNN has published this timetable of recent political sex scandals starting with Bill Clinton, of course. [JH]

PACER Recycling Page

Check out Public.Resource.org's PACER recycling page.   There you can can provide free access to your old PACER court documents as well as access other PACER documents that have been uploaded.  Very nice.  [RJ] 

Check Out LII Announce Blog

From the hardworking crew who produce Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute (LII) comes LII Announce, a blog which according to its about page will consist of "announcements, featured content, and the occasional bizarre legal information factoid from the LII." It's great to see that LII staffers have a sense of humor. Here's an example from a recent "favorite quotes" post:

"The timorous may stay at home." -- Benjamin Cardozo, Murphy v. Steeplechase Amusement Co., 250 NY 479 .

Frequently used at the LII when deploying new software or hardware

Humor aside, LII Annouce looks like a blog worth reading for its coverage of legal developments and insights into the operation of LII. Welcome to the legal blogosphere! [JH]

Gavel to Gavel on Judicial Recusal

Interesting article from Gavel to Gavel: "While every state judicial system has rules and canons with respect to judicial recusal, legislatures in the last several sessions also examined whether to impose by statute recusal requirements."

Web 2.0 and Privacy

Legal experts again raised their concerns that the rise of Web 2.0 has come at the expense of individual privacy. This time at the Legal Futures Conference; read more about it on c|net: To be anonymous or not to be, that is the privacy question

Related c|net coverage of Stanford's Legal Futures Conference:

• Why we should care about the spectrum debate
• The future of professional content, ad infinitum

[JH]

Sources of the History of the American Law of Lawyering

Sources of the History of the American Law of Lawyering
Edited by Michael H. Hoeflich

List Price: $49.95
Paperback: 668 pages
Publisher: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. (January 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 158477861X
ISBN-13: 978-1584778615

Description: The professional behavior of lawyers was a topic that attracted a good deal of attention during the nineteenth century. It was examined directly in bar rules, essays and books and indirectly in biographies, histories, testimonials and funeral orations. Despite the quality and range of this literature, some of it produced by such eminent jurists as Joseph Story and David Dudley Field, it is mostly forgotten today. This is due in part to the assumption that these writings are out of date. It is also difficult to locate many of the finest examples. Compiled from a broad array of scarce materials, Sources on the History of the American Law of Lawyering invites a reappraisal of the history of lawyering during the nineteenth century and addresses topics on legal ethics and professional behavior that are as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century.

Opening: Research and Instructional Services Librarian, Northern Illinois University College of Law Library

Northern Illinois University Law Library is seeking  applications for the position of Research and Instructional Services Librarian.

POSITION: Research and Instructional Services Librarian

ACADEMIC RANK:  Assistant Professor in the Law Library

QUALIFICATIONS:

REQUIRED: Master’s degree in library science from an ALA-accredited library school or  J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school; knowledge of educational technologies and legal research technique in all formats; strong service orientation; excellent communication skills; the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

PREFERRED: Both J.D. and M.L.S. degrees; experience in teaching legal research, providing legal reference service and using educational technologies.

DUTIES: Provide reference service to library users (including participation in weekend reference rotation). Teach legal research courses to law students and offer instruction in legal research both inside and outside of the classroom. Provide support to law faculty and students in their research and in their use of educational technologies. Engage in professional development activities, service and scholarship required for tenure-track faculty position.

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT: Regular, twelve-month, tenure-track faculty position. Available July 1st. Competitive salary.

BENEFITS:   Health, life, dental and vision insurance.  Participation in the State Universities Retirement System. 24 vacation days per year. 12 cumulative and 20 non-cumulative sick leave days per year.

APPLICATIONS:   Please send cover letter, resume and the names of three current professional references to:

John Austin, Director; David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library; Northern Illinois University; DeKalb, IL 60115-2890.  Email: jaustin@niu.edu  FAX: 815-753-9499. Preference will be given to complete applications received by April 6, 2008; however, applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Northern Illinois University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Applications from women and minorities are encouraged.

Vatican Updates Its List of Mortal Sins; Fails to Specify Their Punishments

The new mortal sins include taking or dealing in drugs, polluting the environment, and engaging in "manipulative" genetic science, The Times of London reports. Also new to the list are paedophilia, abortion, and social injustices that cause poverty or "the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few".

Punishments for these new moral sins were not reported but for reference librarians who may be asked this question today, here are the original seven mortal sins and their punishments.

Pride: Broken on the wheel
Envy: Put in freezing water
Gluttony: Forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes
Lust: Smothered in fire and brimstone
Anger: Dismembered alive
Greed: Put in cauldrons of boiling oil
Sloth: Thrown in snake pits

What should the punishments for these new mortal sins be? Make your suggestions by commenting to this post. For example:

Polluting the Environment: Listening to the audio version of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth until you go insane.

[JH]

Parker's Institutional Repositories and the Principle of Open Access: Changing the Way We Think About Legal Scholarship

Kudos to Carol Parker, Law Library Director and Assistant Professor of Law at New Mexico, and a contributing editor for Law Librarian Blog. Carol's article, Institutional Repositories and the Principle of Open Access: Changing the Way We Think About Legal Scholarship, has been published in the New Mexico Law Review (at 37 N.M. L. Rev. 431 (2007) [Westlaw]) From its introduction:

This Article begins by looking at the traditions and cultural values that make open access to primary legal sources and governmental information essential, and that make open access to legal scholarship the next logical step. This Article then traces the evolution of the open access movement that has given rise to institutional repositories, and which has become a global phenomenon affecting all academic disciplines. Further, this Article examines in detail the effects of applying open access principles to legal scholarship, current options for law schools wishing to establish a repository, and the growing number of law school repositories currently in existence. This Article explores how legal scholars use repositories in creative new ways to publish digital objects, changing the landscape of legal scholarship. Finally, this Article concludes that open access to legal scholarship is a principle that *433 should be adopted by U.S. law schools because it is consistent with the American tradition of citizen access to government and legal information.

[JH]

Sanity and the Second Amendment

Interesting op-ed by Professor Laurence Tribe from WSJ.com.

For a complete set of court filings (including backgroud & analysis), check out SCOTUSwiki's DC v. Heller page. 

[RJ]

New StatPack, Including First Justice Agreement Stats

Another excellent resource from SCOTUSblog:

"A new StatPack is available for download here. It has three new inclusions from the last edition: Justice Agreement, Decisions by Final Vote, and a new chart we’re calling “Frequency in the Majority” (thanks go to Ben for this chart).

The first two additions are charts we’ve offered before (see here for last year’s End-of-Term stats) but were hesitant to include in previous StatPacks this Term because it’s so early. With the Term roughly 25% complete in terms of the issuing of decisions (there have been 17 substantive opinions so far out of an estimate of 70), we figured it’s worth releasing them, with the disclaimer that these charts ought to be taken with a large grain of salt: so much is still left outstanding this Term, and they could (and likely will) change drastically by the time the Court recesses for the summer.

The true “new” addition to the StatPack is a tally of how often each Justice votes with the majority - both overall and in divided cases only (you can download this chart individually here)."

Professional Reading: Why States Need an International Law for Information Operations

Duncan Hollis' (Temple) Why States Need an International Law for Information Operations, 11 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1023 (2007) assesses the ways in which international law applies to information operations. This interesting article can be downloaded from SSRN using the above link. Here's the abstract:

Just as states have spent the last several years wrestling with the appropriate legal response to terror, they must now undertake a similar effort to deal with the burgeoning use of information operations (IO). IO involves the use of information technology, such as computer network attacks or psychological operations, to influence, disrupt, corrupt, usurp or defend information systems and the infrastructure they support. More than thirty states have developed IO capacities. But IO is also undoubtedly attractive to non-state actors like Al Qaeda, since the technology is mostly inexpensive, easy-to-use, and capable of deployment from virtually anywhere.

This Article assesses the ways in which international law, specifically the rules regulating the use of force and the law of war, currently applies to IO. Conventional wisdom suggests existing rules can cover IO by analogy. The conventional wisdom is only half-right. This Article explains why the existing rules govern IO, but challenges the unstated assumption that they do so appropriately. Translating existing rules into the IO context produces extensive uncertainty, risking unintentional escalations of conflict where forces have differing interpretations of what is permissible. Alternatively, such uncertainty may discourage the use of IO even if it might produce less harm than traditional means of warfare. Beyond uncertainty, the existing legal framework is insufficient and overly complex. Existing rules have little to say about the non-state actors that will be at the center of future conflicts. And where the laws of war do not apply, even by analogy, an overwhelmingly complex set of other international and foreign law rules purport to govern IO.

To remedy such deficiencies, this Article proposes a new legal framework, an international law for information operations (ILIO). By adopting an ILIO, states could alleviate the uncertainty and complexity of the status quo, reduce transaction costs for states fighting global terror, and lessen the collateral costs of armed conflict itself. This Article concludes with a review of some of the regulatory design questions facing an ILIO, but does not offer any specific rules. Rather, its ultimate aim is to convince states and scholars about the need for an ILIO in the first place.

Just Released, L. Patrick Gray's In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate

In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate
by L. Patrick Gray & Ed Gray

List Price: $26.00
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Times Books (March 4, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0805082565
ISBN-13: 978-0805082562

Book Description: The last untold story of Watergate-by the FBI director who maintained his silence for more than thirty years L.Patrick Gray III was the man caught in the middle of the Watergate scandal. He was a lifelong Republican, but Richard Nixon considered him a threat. Closing in on the conspiracy, Gray became the target of one of Watergate's most shocking acts-Nixon's 'smoking gun' attempt to have the CIA stop the FBI investigation. And when the U.S. Senate focused its attention on Gray in April 1973, the White House threw him to the wolves; John Ehrlichman famously advised that he be left to 'twist slowly, slowly in the wind.' This book is Gray's firsthand account of what really happened during his crucial year as acting director of the FBI, based on a never-before-published first-person account and previously secret documents. He reveals the witches' brew of intrigue and perfidy that permeated Washington, and he tells the unknown story of his complex relationship with his top deputy, Mark Felt, raising disturbing questions about the methods and motives of the man purported to be Deep Throat. Gray's book was completed and expanded by his son, the journalist Ed Gray, who has supplemented the text with revelatory excerpts from documents, tape transcripts, and third-party accounts. Every other major figure has told his story, and now Patrick Gray's unique inside account will change the way we think about the crisis that destroyed the Nixon presidency.

About the Authors: L. Patrick Gray III (1916–2005) was acting director of the FBI at the height of the Watergate scandal, from May 1972 to April 1973. He had previously served in the Justice Department as an assistant attorney general, and was a twenty-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. Ed Gray, his son, is a naturalist writer and the founder of Gray’s Sporting Journal. He is the author of seven books and lives in Lyme, New Hampshire.

Senate Judiciary Committee Clears Bill Authorizing Cameras in Federal Courtrooms

From the National Law Journal: "The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation authorizing the chief judges of federal district and appellate courts to permit cameras in courtrooms. The so-called Sunshine in the Courtroom Act would allow photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting or televising of court proceedings except when it would violate the due process rights of any party."

Thomas Resources for S. 352, Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2007 [RJ]

Opening: Reference Librarian, University of Illinois College of Law Library

The University of Illinois College of Law invites applications for the position of Reference Librarian, a full-time academic, tenure-track faculty appointment with the rank of Assistant Professor of Library Administration. This position reports to the Head of Public Services of the Law Library in the College of Law.

The Reference Librarian assists the Head of Public Services in developing exceptional and innovative services to the College of Law faculty. Additional responsibilities include active participation in the public services team, regular provision of reference services including some evenings and weekends; teaching one section of the first-year legal research course, participation in other formal and informal legal research instruction to law students and others on campus; preparation of print and electronic research aids and collection guides; and mentoring of library science graduate assistants.

The Law Library serves a vibrant College of Law including approximately 45 full time faculty, 600 JD students, and 50 LLM students and also serves the legal information needs of a major research university. The Law Library offers its users a broad array of electronic information sources and a print collection in excess of 750,000 volumes including selective US and EU depository items. The Law Library staff currently consists of 10.5 professional librarians, seven support staff positions and four part-time, graduate assistants who are pursuing masters degrees in library science. For more detailed information about the Law Library, please visit http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/, and for information about the campus, please visit www.uiuc.edu. The position requires an M.L.S. from an ALA accredited program or internationally recognized equivalent in library science by date of hire; JD from an ABA accredited program or internationally recognized equivalent degree by date of hire; strong service orientation; excellent oral and written communications skills, strong interpersonal and organizational skills; working knowledge of Westlaw, Lexis and the Internet; and ability to work cooperatively in a collaborative environment. Working knowledge of current technology and trends and 1-3 years experience working in an law library are preferred.

Salary is competitive and is commensurate with credentials and experience. Librarians have faculty rank, and must demonstrate excellence in librarianship, research, publication, and university/professional/community service in order to meet university standards for tenure and promotion.

This is a continuous, full-time, twelve month position.

Minimum Education and Work Experience:

Requires M.L.S. from an ALA accredited program or internationally recognized equivalent in library science by date of hire and JD from an ABA accredited program or internationally recognized equivalent degree by date of hire.

Skills Desired:

Desire strong service orientation; excellent oral and written communications skills, strong interpersonal and organizational skills; working knowledge of Westlaw, Lexis and the Internet; and ability to work cooperatively in a collaborative environment. Working knowledge of current technology and trends and 1-3 years experience working in an law library are preferred.

Documents Required to Apply for this Position:

Submit cover letter; resume; E-mail address; and names, addresses, and phone numbers of three references.

Resume and Required Documents Should be Forwarded To:

Janis L. Johnston, Director
University of Illinois College of Law Library
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 333-2914
Email: jljohnst@law.uiuc.edu 

Job Available: As soon as possible
For full consideration, apply by: 03/30/2008

The University of Illinois is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer