Law Librarian Blog

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategies, Approaches, Results, and Issues for Congress

CRS Report via Federation of American Scientists:

"Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) was launched on March 20, 2003. The immediate goal, as stated by the Bush Administration, was to remove the regime, including destroying its ability to use weapons of mass destruction or to make them available to terrorists. The broad, longer-term objective included helping Iraqis build “a new Iraq that is prosperous and free.”1 In October 2002, Congress had authorized the President to use force against Iraq, to “defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq,” and to “enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.”

Over time, the focus of OIF has shifted from regime removal to the more open- ended mission of helping an emerging new Iraqi leadership improve security, establish a system of governance, and foster economic development. With that shift in focus, the character of the war has evolved from major combat operations to a multifaceted count! er-insurgency and reconstruction effort.

This report is designed to provide background and analysis of Operation Iraqi Freedom to support consideration of these short-term and long-term issues."

President Bush's Legacy: A Reluctant Friend of Higher Education

Interesting article from the Chronicle: "With his 2009 budget proposal, the president shows a continued willingness to spend federal money on many of colleges' priorities."

See also:  The Feds Giveth, and Taketh Away, Inside Higher Ed. [RJ]

May I Have the Envelope ... YouTube Video Awards!

The Second Annual YouTube Video Awards just took place, honoring 12 Internet video creators and their body of work. Fellow users voted on twelve different categories; music, sports, comedy, instructional, short film, inspirational, commentary, creative, politics, series, eyewitness and "adorable."

The envelope please... YouTube Annoucement of the Winners (includes links to winning videos) | Yahoo News Story

[JH]

Friday Fun: Protecting Those Who Can't Walk and Chew Gum Text at the Same Time

East London's trendy Brick Lane holds the record for cell phone texting injuries. To protect London pedestrians so preoccupied with emailing and text messaging on their BlackBerrys and cell phones that they can't make it down a city block without crashing into stationary objects, lamp posts have been padded with rugby goalpost cushions! Is this the IT equivalent to not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time? {JH}

Check out Time's story, Texting and Walking: Dangerous Mix, and this ITN News video, which looks a wee bit staged:

Friday Fun: Syd Kaufman, Plaintiff SuperLawyer!

What's your favorite complaint? [JH]

Samuel Adams American Homebrew Contest, A Great Library Staff Morale Project!

Jim Kock and the fine folks at the Samuel Adams® Brewery reminded Americans that beer is supposed to be flavorful some 20-plus years ago. For that, Jim Kock deserves the highest civilian award for distinguished Americans, The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The Boston Beer Company's 2008 American Homebrew Contest is now underway. Free to all homebrewers, submission of four bottles of your brew along with an entry form must be received between Tuesday, April 15, 2008 and 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2008. Details on the Samuel Adams website. Brewing kits and supplies for those who need it, available here.

Sounds like a great law library staff project! Need some help? Check out these online resources: John Palmer's How To Brew (1st edition, full-text online), The Virtual Organic Home Brewing Class, and All About Beer's Homebrewing Guide which includes some basic homebrewing recipes. 50-plus books on brewing and recipes are available from BeerBooks.com.

Reporting from paralegaldom, LLB's brewmaster, Stina McClintock, reports that her firm is keeping her too busy to participate in this year's competition. I guess that means the rest of us have a chance to win. BTW, Check out Stina's "Beer Moments," featured in King County Law Library's SideBar podcasts. Here's some recent ones:

• Episode 17: Stina on Samuel Adams beer.
• Episode 16: The correct "cool" temperature to serve various styles of beer
• Episode 15: Stina discusses the results of her Civil War era beer brewing experiments
• Episode 12: Stina on overrated beers

[JH]

2007 IRS Data Book Now Online

Ever wonder what the IRS does after you have filed your 1040? Check out the the IRS Data Book, an annual snapshot of IRS activities for a given fiscal year. The 2007 IRS Data Book is now available.

From the press release:

The report describes activities of the IRS from Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2007, and includes information about returns filed, tax collections, enforcement, taxpayer assistance, as well as the IRS budget and workforce.

During fiscal year 2007, the IRS collected almost $2.4 trillion in taxes (net of refunds) and processed more than 235 million returns. More than 114 million individual income tax return filers received tax refunds that totaled $248.6 billion. In fiscal year 2007, IRS spent an average of 40 cents to collect each $100 of tax revenue, which was the lowest in seven years and down from 42 cents per $100 in fiscal year 2006.

IRS examined nearly 1.4 million individual income tax returns in fiscal year 2007. IRS personnel answered more than 33.2 million toll-free calls from taxpayers during the fiscal year, and the IRS Web site received about 215 million visits.

[JH]

Spring Break Reading: Daniel Defoe and the Written Constitution

Bernadette A. Meyler (Cornell Law School) examines Daniel Defoe's contribution to the ideal of a written constitution and its enduring legacy in Daniel Defoe and the Written Constitution (NELLCO). Very interesting. Here's the abstract:

Today, as constitutionalism spreads around the globe, it is embodied de rigueur in written documents. Even places that sustained polities for centuries without a written constitution have begun to succumb to the lure of writtenness. America, we think, spawned this worldwide force, inaugurating a radically new form of political organization when it adopted the U.S. Constitution as its foundational text. Yet the notion of the written constitution had, in fact, received an earlier imprimatur from the pen of Daniel Defoe, English novelist, political pamphleteer, and secret agent. Plying his trades in the early eighteenth century, Defoe, now known largely as the author of Robinson Crusoe, in a number of disparate literary and political guises advocated the development of written documents setting forth the basic principles of a governmental order and restraining the power of legislative majorities. Just as the individualist ethos of Robinson Crusoe grabbed the American imaginary from the mid-eighteenth-century onwards, a conception of written constitutionalism similar to the one promulgated by Crusoe’s author took root on American soil.

My article elaborates the contours of written constitutionalism that Defoe outlined and demonstrates the close alignment of some of Defoe’s arguments with the scholarship of today, an alignment that suggests the persistence of a number of the mythic ideals of written constitutionalism that Defoe constructed in the early eighteenth century. Methodologically, the article illuminates the importance of looking to the emerging genre of the novel as well as other widely read forms -- rather than focusing exclusively on more traditional historical sources -- to discern the construction of a popular imaginary at the time of the Founding. At the same time, however, the article argues that the differences between the account of written constitutionalism that emerges out of Defoe’s works and the claims made for written constitutionalism by Chief Justice Marshall in Marbury v. Madison and legal academics today illuminate the contingency of what writing may mean for constitutionalism and demonstrate the ways in which the mythic entailments of writing are sometimes precisely that -- myths.

See also Peter E. Quint (Maryland) who identifies the most striking differences and contrasts between the eighteenth-century Constitution of the United States and certain of its twentieth-century counterparts in What is a Twentieth-Century Constitution? [SSRN] [JH]

Reminder: AALL Scholarships Applications Due April 1st

Need money to support your educational goals?  The AALL Scholarships Committee wants to give you that opportunity. Every year, AALL awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to law school and library school students and AALL members. The following scholarships are awarded annually. The application deadline for all scholarships is April 1st. 

General Educational Scholarships, supported by AALL and the LexisNexis John R. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund:

• Graduate Library School Scholarships, for students with JD degrees or for students without JD degrees
• Law School Scholarships, for students with MLS/MILS degrees or for those seeking a dual JD/MLS degree
• Scholarships for Library School Graduates Seeking a Non-Law Degree
• Scholarships for Continuing Education Classes

Additional Scholarships include:

• AALL and Thomson West George A. Strait Minority Scholarship
• James F. Connolly LexisNexis Academic and Library Solutions Scholarship

Visit AALLNET for complete information, instructions, and applications at http://www.aallnet.org/services/scholarships.asp.  Spread the word to anyone who might be interested.

Statutes at Large: 109th Congress, 1st Session (2005)

Is now available from GPO.  [RJ]

Opening: Reference Librarian, Wake Forest Law Library

Position Summary 

• Provides reference services, research assistance and library instruction to all users of the library. Teaches in the mandatory Legal Research and Writing Program for first year law students and may teach in the Advanced Legal Research class for upper level law students. Serves as a faculty liaison. Participates in collection development activities. May supervise and train student assistants.

Essential Functions 

• Provides reference services to all library users and research services to law faculty.
• Serves as a faculty liaison to approximately a dozen law faculty members, determining special needs or areas of interest and assisting the faculty to more effectively utilize their research assistants. Develops faculty interest profiles, apprises faculty of current information services, creates selected annotate bibliographies and other special projects for faculty members. Develop and deliver specialized research lectures for assigned faculty's classes.
• Teaches in mandatory Legal Research and Writing Program for first year law students, including training in Lexis, Westlaw and the internet. Prepares and grades legal research exercises. May assist in teaching Advanced Legal Research. Teaches specialized topical research seminars.
• Participates as a member of the collection development team, recommending and evaluating legal resources in all formats and subject areas.
• May assist in the hiring, training and supervision of student reference assistants.
• Prepares exhibits, bibliographies and research guides.
• May have responsibility for one or more legal subject areas such as foreign, international and comparative law, interlibrary loan, or government documents. This would include making collection development recommendations for the subject area.
• Maintains own current awareness by reading the professional literature and appropriate on-line sources.
• Serves the law library profession by participating at the local, regional, and/or national level in professional associations, attending or delivering presentation at professionals conferences and continuing education programs, or publishing articles, chapters of books, etc. that add to the body of law or library literature.
• Participates in departmental and staff meetings and activities.
• Performs other related duties as assigned by Assoc. Director for Research & Instruction or Law Library Director/Assoc. Dean of IS.   

Education/Experience  Law degree (J.D.) from an ABA-accredited law school, or the foreign equivalent required. Master's Degree in Library/Information Science [MLS/MLIS] from an ALA accredited program or equivalent required. Academic law library work experience and teaching experience strongly preferred. Subject expertise in one of the below mentioned areas preferred.   

Knowledge/Skills/Ability 

• Demonstrated knowledge of research and reference materials in law.
• Proficiency in the use of electronic databases and web-based information delivery.
• Strong service orientation with proven abilities in working with library users.
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team.
• Strong commitment to and demonstrable skill in classroom instruction and library information literacy.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Experience with automated library systems, internet applications, and Windows environment.   

Physical Requirements  Light work: Stooping, kneeling, reaching, standing, walking, pushing, pulling, lifting, grasping, talking, hearing, repetitive motions. Close visual acuity to perform activities such as preparing and analyzing data and viewing a computer terminal. Subject to inside environmental conditions.   

Job Open Date  03-10-2008   
Job Close Date  Open Until Filled 

Marking the Fifth Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq

The War in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, there have been 772 coalition deaths — 483 Americans, four Australians, 89 Britons, 81 Canadians, two Czech, 12 Danes, 14 Dutch, two Estonians, one Finn, 12 French, 22 Germans, 11 Italians, three Norwegians, three Poles, two Portuguese, five Romanians, one South Korean, 23 Spaniards, two Swedes — as of March 19, 2008 according to CNN.

Faulty Premises, Bad Intelligence, Fanciful Projections. Five years ago, on March 20, 2003, U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq to overthrow a secular dictatorship that President Bush accused of developing weapons of mass destruction. See the Center for Public Integrity's Iraq – The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War. This comprehensive examination of top Bush administration officials' statements over a two-year period shows how top officials galvanized public opinion in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

The Iraq War has now lasted longer than the Civil War, World War I or World War II; it is now the second-longest in modern U.S. history, second only to the Vietnam War. According to Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes the Iraq War will cost American taxpayers $3 trillion — and counting — rather than the $50 billion projected by the White House. Imagine what U.S. taxpayer's money would have produced had it been invested in the further growth of the U.S. economy instead of this war. See Stiglitz & Bilmes' The Three Trillion Dollar War for their projections.

Remembering the Fallen. According to CNN, there have been 4,297 coalition deaths — 3,990 Americans, two Australians, 175 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvian, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians — in the war in Iraq as of March 19, 2008.

CNN's US and Coalition Causalities by Name
Iraq Causalities | Afghanistan Causalities | POW/MIA

Documented civilian deaths from violence in Iraq are estimated at 82,249-89,760 by Iraq Body Count. Other estimates run considerably higher. The Brookings Institution estimates 151,000 dead as of this month, citing a survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In October, 2006, Johns Hopkins University estimated 655,000 killed. ORB, a British polling agency, estimated as many as 1,200,000 dead as of last September.

Iraqi Refugee Crisis. More than four million Iraqi civilians are estimated to be uprooted by the violence taking place in their country. In this recent report, the International Rescue Committee concludes that "neither the U.S. nor the rest of the world is paying sufficient heed" to the Iraqi refugee crisis.

Commentaries. To mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the New York Times Op-Ed page editorial staff asked nine experts on military and foreign affairs to reflect on their attitudes in the spring of 2003 and to comment on the one aspect of the war that most surprised them or that they wished they had considered in the prewar debate. See Reflections on the Invasion of Iraq (March 16, 2008):

• Where Was The Plan? By L. Paul Bremer III
• Too Heavy a Hand By Richard Perle
• Das Loot By Anne-Marie Slaughter
• So Much for Good Intentions By Kenneth M. Pollack
• There’s No Freedom Gene By Danielle Pletka
• Worries Over Being ‘Slimed’ By Nathaniel Fick
• Congress in Recess By Paul D. Eaton
• The Army Grew Into the Job By Frederick Kagan
• Worse Than Lyndon Johnson’s Team? By Anthony D. Cordesman

Sampling from the many commentaries on the Iraq War, see also:

• The Eight Inside-the-Beltway Fundamentals of the Iraq War by Tom Engelhardt
• Five Years Ago by Jason Sigger

The Voice of America is running a series of reports on the Iraq War, including the following ones:

• Iraq War Enters Sixth Year
• Iraq War at Crucial Junction on Fifth Anniversary
• War in Iraq Badly Damages US Image Internationally

The Future. The Brookings Institution examines the facts, the politics and the possible solutions. [JH]

How to Do Russian Legal Research

The Law Library of Congress has prepared a Legal Research Guide for Russia. The Russian Guide includes an introduction to the legal system, official sources of law, print resources, and web resources. Check it out. [JH]

ABA's Antitrust Handbook for Franchise and Distribution Practitioners

Antitrust Handbook for Franchise and Distribution Practitioners

List Price: $169.00
Publisher: ABA
Publication Date: March 2008
Page Court: 250
ISBN: 978-1-60442-048-7

Book Description: Franchising forms a major sector of the economy, and businesses engaged in selling goods and services through franchise systems routinely confront advertising, pricing, distribution, and other issues requiring an understanding of the antitrust laws. This important resource will give the practicing lawyer a detailed overview of the federal antitrust laws as they apply to franchising.

Organized by issue--pricing and advertising, customer and territorial restrictions, exclusive dealing, purchasing constraints, and joint franchisee action--to enhance its usefulness to practitioners, this book will prove an invaluable aid to practitioners advising clients on antitrust issues involved in franchising, whether they are selling through a business format or product distribution franchise.

Chapter I offers an introduction to and overview of the antitrust laws.
Chapter II looks at pricing issues, from resale price maintenance, to cooperative advertising, to price discrimination.
Chapter III considers territorial and customer restrictions.
Chapter IV reviews exclusive dealing and exclusive appointments.
Chapter V addresses tying issues and vendor rebates.
Chapter VI provides an overview of the antitrust law applicable to joint conduct by franchisees.

In addition, the application of antitrust law to business format franchises in particular has given rise to a specialized body of law within general antitrust jurisprudence to the extent, for example, franchisors have required franchisees to purchase from designated sources. Those developments are described in detail in this volume.

Hat tip to Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog. [JH]

Public Comments on Proposed Revisions to Code of Conduct for US Judges Due by April 18, 2008

From the press release: "The Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States seeks public comments on proposed revisions to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. The proposed revisions are based in large part on revisions adopted by the American Bar Association in February 2007, amending the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct. Comments may be submitted to the Committee on Codes of Conduct by e-mail at the following address: codecomments@ao.uscourts.gov. "

Current Code Compared to Proposed Revised Code (pdf) [JH]

NABL and Thomson West Sponsor Seminar for Blind and Visually Impaired Attorneys

The National Association of Blind Lawyers (NABL) will be conducting a day-long training seminar for blind and visually impaired attorneys and law school students in Baltimore on April 10, 2008 as part of the 2008 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium: Disability Law: From tenBroek to the Twenty-first Century, April 10-11, 2008. Thomson West is helping to sponsor the training seminar and will be providing training on WestLaw for approximately half of the day-long session.  The training will be specifically targeted on using WestLaw with assistive technology. The other half of the day will be spent on exploring other technologies and substantive law issues. 

Seating for the trainng seminar is limited so blind/visually impaired attorneys can receive more individualized training. The cost is the training seminar and symposium are $150 each, reduced to $250 for attending both events. A limited number of scholarships are available for young attorneys and law students in their second and third years. Scholarship information is available from NABL President, Scott C. LaBarre [email]. [JH]

Opening: Library Associate Senior, University of Akron Law Library

Library Associate Senior - 4987
The University of Akron
Law Library

Conduct receipt, distribution and maintenance of library serials in on-line environment and provide administrative support for library.  Required qualifications: minimum of two years experience with library policies and procedures, working knowledge of library systems, strong verbal/written communication, customer service skills, and computer skills sufficient to enter and retrieve data. Relevant Associate degree. The ability to lift books and other material in excess of 30 pounds. The ability to move library book carts with several hundred pounds up and down ramps. The ability to use step stools and ladders to place and retrieve materials up to 108 inches off the floor. The ability to place and retrieve material on shelves three inches from the floor. More detailed description of positions available at http://www3.uakron.edu/hr/eob.

Completed applications may be submitted Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on or before the deadline date of March 24, 2008.  Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.  Application materials may be obtained from our web site www.uakron.edu/hr/EmployServs.php or apply in person to Human Resources, The University of Akron, 185 E. Mill Street, Akron, OH 44325-4731 or mail to P.O. Box 1600, Akron, OH 44309.  The University of Akron is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity and to the principles of affirmative action in accordance with state and federal laws.

A Jury of One's Peers: Ranking Law School Reputations

Brian Leiter has just published Top Producers of New Law Teachers, 2003-2007, a ranking of feeder schools for the legal academy, on Brian Leiter's Law School Rankings [his blog post].

I thought it might be interesting to create a table displaying data from Table II. Total Placement in Law Teaching, 2003-2007 of this study and Table III: Ranking of Law Faculties by Mean and Median Per Capita Citations of his Top 35 Law Faculties Based on Scholarly Impact, 2000-2007, alongside the Top 20 Law Schools from the dreaded 2008 USN&WR Law School Rankings (displaying overall and academic peer assessment scores). Here it is, click to enlarge the display:

No profound comments but a reminder ... the online edition of USN&WR's 2009 Law School Rankings will be launched on March 28, 2008; pre-order it now for the number-crunchers! [JH]

New Rules for Judicial Conduct and Judicial Disability Proceedings Take Effect Next Month

The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved the first-ever binding, nationwide set of rules for handling conduct and disability complaints against federal judges. The new 29 Rules for Judicial Conduct and Judicial Disability Proceedings, which take effect in mid-April, are authorized under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 that allows any person to file a complaint alleging that a federal judge has engaged in conduct "prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts." The statute also permits the filing of a complaint relating to a judge's inability to perform his or her duties because of "mental or physical disability."

Press Release | Text of Rules for Judicial Conduct and Judicial Disability Proceedings (pdf)

[JH]

Professional Reading: Reckoning the Future Business Plans of Copyright-Dependent Technology Entrepreneurs

Jane C. Ginsburg (Columbia Law School) has deposited Separating the Sony Sheep From the Grokster Goats: Reckoning the Future Business Plans of Copyright-Dependent Technology Entrepreneurs in NELLCO. Here's the abstract:

U.S. and many other national copyright systems have by statute or caselaw (or both) established rules engaging or excusing liability for facilitating (or, in commonwealth countries, “authorizing”) copyright infringement. Taken as a group, they share a goal of insulating the innovator whose technology happens, but was not intended, to enable its adopters to make unlawful copies or communications of protected works. The more infringement becomes integrated into the innovator’s business plan, however, the less likely the entrepreneur is to persuade a court of the neutrality of its venture. The US Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in MGM v Grokster, established that businesses built from the start on inducing infringement will be held liable; judges will frown on drawing one’s start-up capital from other people’s copyrights. Thus, the inferences entrepreneurs may draw from the Court’s elucidation of the elements of inducement may advise pro-active measures to prevent infringement from becoming a business asset. As a result, even businesses not initially built on infringement, but in which infringement comes to play an increasingly profitable part, may find themselves liable unless they take good faith measures to forestall infringements.

This article addresses the evolution of the U.S.’s judge-made rules of secondary liability for copyright infringement, and the possible emergence of an obligation of good faith efforts to avoid infringement. The recent announcements of inter-industry “Principles for User Generated Content Services” and of complementary “Fair Use Principles for User-Generated Video Content” suggest that proactive avoidance measures may become a matter of “best practice.” The article then turns to the statutory regime of safe harbors established for certain Internet service providers and considers whether the statute insulates entrepreneurs who would have been held derivatively liable under common law norms. Finally, the article compares the U.S. developments with recent French decisions holding the operators of “user-generated content” and “social networking” websites liable for their customers’ unauthorized posting of copyrighted works.

New Edition of Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents Now Available

Reporters Without Borders has published a new edition of its Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents (pdf). It offers practical advice and techniques on how to start up a blog, how to blog for anonymously, and how to circumvent censorship. [JH]

Here's the Table of Contents

1. BLOGGERS, A NEW SOURCE OF NEWS by Clothilde Le Coz
2. WHAT’S A BLOG ? by LeMondedublog.com
3. THE LANGUAGE OF BLOGGING by LeMondedublog.com
4. CHOOSING THE BEST TOOL by Cyril Fiévet, Marc-Olivier Peyer and LeMondedublog.com
5. HOW TO SET UP AND RUN A BLOG by The Wordpress System
6. WHAT ETHICS SHOULD BLOGUEURS HAVE? by Dan Gillmor
7. GETTING YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY SEARCH-ENGINES by Olivier Andrieu
8. WHAT REALLY MAKES A BLOG SHINE? by Mark Glaser
9. PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
   • SWITZERLAND by Picidae
   • EGYPT: “When the line between journalist and activist disappears” by Wael Abbas
   • THAILAND : “The Web was not designed for bloggers” by Jotman
10. HOW TO BLOG ANONYMOUSLY WITH WORDPRESS AND TOR by Ethan Zuckerman
11. TECHNICAL WAYS TO GET ROUND CENSORSHIP by Nart Villeneuve
12. ENSURING YOUR E-MAIL IS TRULY PRIVATE by Ludovic Pierrat
13. THE 2008 GOLDEN SCISSORS OF CYBER-CENSORSHIP by Clothilde Le Coz

New Service for Congressional Videos

From the site: "CapNews.Net is an Internet News Service covering Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court and executive agencies.  In 2008 CapNews.Net will launch its full operations and begin offering news video syndication services to media organizations and others, and also continue posting videos directly to the public via YouTube.com and other video platforms."  [RJ]

Do You Use IM in Your Law Firm Library?

LawLibTech is conducting a poll of law firm librarians on IM practices in preparation for a presentation at TRIPLL next month. [JH]

Best and Worst Time Covers

Time is conducting a perfect hump-day diversion, a poll of their best and worst covers

Vote for Best Covers | Vote for Worst Covers | View Poll Results (regularly updated)

See also Time's Person of the Year, 1927-2007 Gallery of Covers. [JH]

Oral Arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller Now Available

A transcript of today’s argument in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290) is now available from the Supreme Court.  Oyez.org is also rebroadcasting the oral arguments of this potentially far-reaching gun-control case. [RJ]

Librarian fired for reporting porn viewing patron?

This story comes from the Visalia Times-Delta (CA) where a librarian, Brenda Biesterfeld, claims she was terminated for reporting to police a patron who was viewing child pornography. The library denies the reporting is the cause of her termination. Another point of contention in the story is the amount of training Biesterfeld received regarding patrons on the internet and the issue that the library, according to the article, is refusing to turn over the library employee manual to see what the proper steps should have been at the library. (In the early stages here I want to stress most of these are allegations)

Of the many legal questions that come out this a couple jump out: assuming pornography is allowed at the library, it's not at mine, is there a difference in "regular" pornography and child pornography in a library; should a library have to turn over its employee manuals since they are (in this case) a public institution; and what should a librarian do if their boss tells them to do something that may be illegal (not reporting child pornography when one see's it).

We do welcome comments if you would like chime in. [BB]

Kennedy and Mighell's The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies

Written by two widely recognized experts in the field, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell, this is the first comprehensive guide to collaboration technologies dedicated to the special requirements of lawyers and law firms -- a must have title! [JH] 

The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together
by Dennis Kennedy & Tom Mighell

List Price: $89.95
Paperback: 314 pages
Publisher: American Bar Association (March 2008)
ISBN-10: 1590319796
ISBN-13: 978-1590319796

Book Description: This first-of-its-kind guide for the legal profession shows you how to use standard technology you already have and the latest "Web 2.0" resources and other tech tools, like Google Docs, Microsoft Office and SharePoint, and Adobe Acrobat, to work more effectively on projects with colleagues, clients, co-counsel and even opposing counsel. In The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, well-known legal technology authorities Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell provides a wealth of information useful to lawyers who are just beginning to try these tools, as well as tips and techniques for those lawyers with intermediate and advanced collaboration experience.

Collaboration technologies and tools are the most important current developments in legal technology and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Explained with minimal technical jargon, the book focuses on highly practical and usable ideas that you can put to work straight away.

With practical advice on how to use specific tools and concrete action steps to take, lawyers and law firms at all levels will benefit from working together better. You'll learn:

• The basics of collaboration and collaboration tools
• How to select and implement tools and strategies
• The best ways to collaborate on documents, cases, transactions, and projects
• How to collaborate inside and outside the office
• How to collaborate using tools you already have or own

US Tort Liability Index: 2008 Report

The Pacific Research Institute has published its US Tort Liability Index: 2008 Report. The Report measures the best and worst state tort law systems. The Pacific Research Institute developed the Index "as a tool for governors and state legislators to assess their tort systems and to enact laws that will improve the business climates of their states."

The U.S. Tort Liability Index: 2008 Report measures which states impose the highest and the lowest, tort liability costs both in absolute and in relative terms. Rankings are provided at the state level generally and by type of litigation.

Lowest tort liability cost states:

1. North Dakota
2. Alaska
3. North Carolina
4. Iowa
5. Virginia

Highest tort liability cost states:

1. Florida
2. New Jersey
3. New York
4. Illinois
5. Montana
6. Pennsylvania

Hat tip to beSpacific. [JH]

LLB Poll, Would You Sell Shares in the Future of Your Career?

Sports Illustrated is reporting a story about Randy Newsom, a minor-league pitcher for the Akron Aeros who is selling shares of stock in his baseball career. For $20, anyone can buy one share in the 25-year-old's career. That investment could net .0016 percent of Newsom's future major league earnings if the SEC and MLB don't put a stop to his Real Sports Investments company offering. Hopefully not, and if not, would you sell shares in the future of your career?

NB: the SEC would require a fairly detailed statement of the factors that could negatively impact the viability of your career prospects in any stock offering. What a list that could be! Check out the Securities Lawyer's Deskbook for regulatory requirements. [JH]

Opinion Polls & Market Research

LC's Digital Preservation Program Launches Newsletter

News from the Library of Congress:

"A monthly online newsletter highlighting the important work that the Library of Congress’s digital preservation program is performing to collect and preserve the nation’s heritage in digital form will launch in March.

The Newsletter of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) will be produced by the Library’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, which is leading NDIIPP, and will offer a digest of recent news related to the program’s activities. The newsletter will contain short descriptions of each news item, with links provided to the full story on the NDIIPP Web site (www.digitalpreservation.gov).

NDIIPP is the Library’s program to build a national network of partners dedicated to the collection and preservation of important digital materials that are at risk of loss if they are not now preserved. The program focuses on born-digital content; that is, materials that are created digitally and exist in no other form, such as electronic journals and Web sites as well as films, television programs, sound recordings, maps and other media that are digitally produced.

To subscribe to the newsletter, go to http://service.govdelivery.com/service/subscribe.html?code=USLOC_13. Here you will type in your e-mail address and press "Enter." Then you will see a list of all available e-mail updates from the Library of Congress; you can subscribe to any of these services. To receive the NDIIPP newsletter, scroll down and click on Digital Preservation."

[RJ]

Information Isn't Reserved for Books

Great article from the Houston Chronicle:

"If Google and a librarian had an informational smackdown, who would win?

Many people champion Google, with its impressive number of results.

But research librarians say their powers have been unfairly dismissed in the online age. Not only can they outsmart Google's dead ends and weaknesses, librarians say, but they can help people surf faster and smarter by showing them hidden databases and tricks."

Damn right!  [RJ]

Google White Paper on Business Communications Trends, Priorities, and Best Practices

From the executive summary of the 2008 Annual Google Communications Intelligence Report (Feb. 2008):

At the end of 2007, Google conducted an annual online survey of messaging professionals. Providing insight into the major communications trends in the past year as well as the pressing issues and concerns for the coming one, this survey is the result of 575 global interviews with CEOs, CIOs, and CTOs in large, multinational enterprises as well as small organizations. This report summarizes the key findings of the survey, including detailed statistical analysis of the key trends in business communications in 2007 and how these trends translate into priorities for business communications professionals in the year ahead. Following the summary of the research findings, the report touches on Google’s expectations for the coming year as well as defines some best practices in business communication to help organizations address the expected challenges in the industry in 2008.

Download google0802whitepaper.pdf [JH]

Gun-Control Case Divides State AGs

Interesting article from Stateline.org: "A gun-control case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court March 18 has exposed a division among state attorneys general over the meaning of the Second Amendment, the fiercely debated constitutional provision that guarantees Americans the right to keep and bear arms."   [RJ]

AU WCL to Host Conference on Innovations in the First-Year Law Curriculum This Friday

American University’s Washington College of Law will host the conference “Innovations in the First Year Curriculum” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 21, 2008 [Details]

Sponsored by the WCL's Integrated Curriculum Program, Office of Academic Affairs and Office of the Dean, the conference is free and open to the public. It will bring together academic leaders from the Washington College of Law, as well as those from Georgetown, Howard, Indiana, New York, Northeastern, Rutgers, Seattle and Washington & Lee universities, the universities of Maryland, Michigan and Minnesota, City University of New York, and William Mitchell College of Law, to discuss some of the changes in theory and instruction related to the first-year law school experience.

The panel discussions and short presentations will explore recent developments, including integrated and transcurricular teaching, the inclusion of clinical or practice-based instruction, reconfiguration of first-year legal writing programs, first-year electives and other innovations.

Hopefully some local area law librarians will be attending this conference. Tweaking the standard 1L program has been going on for a couple of years now. See, for example, Boston College Law School's recently announced changes to their 1L curriculum. See also the School's eBrief for background, Spotlight: Curriculum Reform.  More generally, check out Law School Innovation's blog posts. [JH]

Twitter in Plain English

Once again, the creative folks at Commoncraft have produced one of their great "Paperworks Videos" explaining a popular IT phenomenon. This time it is Twitter. [JH]

Just Released, An-Na’im's Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a

An-Na’im's Islam and the Secular State was first published in Indonesia last year and is available on the Internet in eight languages spoken by Muslims. It is a product of An-Na’im's role in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion's Islamic Legal Studies research project at Emory Law and was funded in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation.

From the Center's press release for Islam and the Secular State:

"The American Constitution got it right on the separation of church and state, but there isn't much clarity of the relationship between religion and politics ... I want to help clarify the role of religion in society so that it is seen as a positive, humanizing force, not as a bigoted, narrow-minded, destructive force." -- Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a
by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

List Price: $35.00
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 15, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0674027760
ISBN-13: 978-0674027763

Book Description: What should be the place of Shari‘a—Islamic religious law—in predominantly Muslim societies of the world? In this ambitious and topical book, a Muslim scholar and human rights activist envisions a positive and sustainable role for Shari‘a, based on a profound rethinking of the relationship between religion and the secular state in all societies.

An-Na‘im argues that the coercive enforcement of Shari‘a by the state betrays the Qur’an’s insistence on voluntary acceptance of Islam. Just as the state should be secure from the misuse of religious authority, Shari‘a should be freed from the control of the state. State policies or legislation must be based on civic reasons accessible to citizens of all religions. Showing that throughout the history of Islam, Islam and the state have normally been separate, An-Na‘im maintains that ideas of human rights and citizenship are more consistent with Islamic principles than with claims of a supposedly Islamic state to enforce Shari‘a. In fact, he suggests, the very idea of an “Islamic state” is based on European ideas of state and law, and not Shari‘a or the Islamic tradition.

Bold, pragmatic, and deeply rooted in Islamic history and theology, Islam and the Secular State offers a workable future for the place of Shari‘a in Muslim societies.

About the Author: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University. His specialties are international human rights, comparative constitutional law, and Islamic law. An-Na’im has written and edited numerous books and articles, and lectured widely throughout the world on law and human rights, Islamic law and politics, and cross-cultural comparative law. Noted titles include: African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam; Inter-religious Marriages Among Muslims; Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and International Law; Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Quest for Consensus, and Human Rights under African Constitutions.

Opening: Research Associate, Beijing, The China Law Center, Yale Law School

The China Law Center of Yale Law School is seeking a graduating senior or recent university graduate for a Research Associate position based in Beijing. The Research Associate will support Center projects in China by conducting research and writing on issues related to legal reform; interacting with scholars, officials, and lawyers in China; and performing administrative and logistical tasks.

Qualifications:

1. Bachelor's Degree or equivalent;
2. Proficiency in written and spoken Mandarin Chinese;
3. Fluent English;
4. Strong research, writing, analytical, and communication skills;
5. Strong organizational skills, attention to detail and an ability to work independently;
6. Interest in law and legal reform and a commitment to public interest service; and
7. Experience in China (preferred)

Interested applicants should send a cover letter and resume (including contact information for references) to The China Law Center at yalechinalaw@gmail.com. Applications should be submitted by April 15, 2008 but will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning March 31, 2008. Applicants will only be contacted if invited for an interview. The Research Associate will receive a competitive one-year fellowship stipend for the 2008-2009 year.

The China Law Center of Yale Law School is a unique institution devoted to supporting law and policy reform within China and increasing understanding of China in the United States. The core of the Center's work is designing and carrying out sustained, in-depth cooperative projects between U.S. and Chinese experts on key issues in Chinese law and policy reform. The Center's projects focus on areas that are critical to China's ongoing reform process, particularly judicial reform, criminal justice reform, administrative and regulatory reform, and constitutional law.

Yale Law School is an affirmative action, equal opportunity, Title IX employer.