Law Librarian Blog

ABA Releases New Guide to Professionalism Commissions

The ABA has released its second edition of A Guide to Professionalism Commissions (August 2008)[website | PDF]. The Guide describes the professionalism commissions now operating in 14 states and the types of programs and activities commissions can use promote professionalism. It also includes a section on advice for new commissions. "Although designed for judges and lawyers generally," the authors explain that "this guide is also directed specifically at the state chief justices, not only because of the importance of their collective support for the establishment of state professionalism centers nationwide, but also because of their individual ability to promote the future development and success of professionalism centers in their own states." [JH]

doing more with less

on the heels of this post from Friday involving the trashing of a paper library in favor of digital resources we present two librarians who do more with less in small time settings. First is Susan Menagh, the sole librarian at the Merced County (CA) Law Library who provides excellent service is sometimes difficult and lonely times brought to you from an online version of the Merced Sun Star.

Next is a story about Dennise Alexander, library administrator for the Arkansas Department of Corrections who has dealt with difficultly in obtaining resources with a budget of $20,000 for 14,000 prisoner patrons and has staffing primarily on location by the inmates. This look by the Texarkana Gazette gives a slightly different prospective of a law librarian. {bb}

Congratulations Stina and Ben!

Our favorite former law library technical support staffer and one-time A View from the Stacks LLB columnist, Stina McClintock, went off and got married last weekend. [Click on image] She and her husband Ben are honeymooning in Hawaii but before leaving she emailed me this: "Ben is a programmer at Amazon who hails from Canada.  Which means he has a quirky sense of humor and has zero interest in listening to me talk about the Chinese gymnasts who were OBVIOUSLY not old enough to compete."

Hum, husband not listening to wife. Now Ben, when you are married to someone who brews her own beer, you really need to listen up. Congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple.

Endnote. As readers of this blog know, it was a cold and very sad day when Stina left the King County Law Library to enter the "elusive world of paralegaldom" last January. KCLL's Rita Kaiser interviewed Stina about her new job for the library's 19th episode of Sidebar. You can listen to the podcast here (mp3). [JH]

Is FindLaw Gaming Google by Selling Links to Lawyer Websites?

The legal blogosphere has been buzzing about FindLaw allegedly selling text links in violation of Google's policies. Bob Ambrogi reviews the situation because "the facts are being misconstrued in a way that is distorting what should be the focus of the debate."

Bob is one of the most respected blogger-journalists in online legal media. One would think it unnecessary for him to explain that he is not "an apologist for FindLaw" or its parent, Thomson, but apparently he thought it was necessary. Like Bob, anyone who follows LLB knows that I am not shy about criticizing Thomson, sponsor of the Law Professor Blogs Network. Not once has the Company, nor would the Company, ask our Network to back off criticizing their products, services or business practices. On this so-called "scandal," I have nothing to add because Bob covers it all. See Is the FindLaw Story Getting Distorted? [JH]

Does Sarah Palin Give Off a Naughty Librarian Vibe?

Craig Ferguson senses a naughty librarian vibe from Sarah Palin. Hat tip to Michael Dodson.

Palin Photo Caption Contest

The Volokh Conspiracy is running a photo caption contest using this image.

Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page is hot as in fast and furious editing and sales of her biography, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson are red hot. As of yesterday, the book was ranked 23rd by Amazon's book sales ranking system. William "Beldar" Dyer called the bio "a compelling tale to tell that's based on the remarkable accomplishments of a remarkably normal person."

Families Off Limits. Kudos to John McCain for picking Governor Palin despite some family issues and to Barack Obama for not making campaign fodder of them. "Let me be as clear as possible," Obama said. "I think people's families are off-limits, and people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president." [CNN]

To the Issues. See Governor Palin's letter to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, where she  urges Congress to allow oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska and her follow-up interview on national enery issues [video link] with economist and CNBC talking head Larry Kudlow. [JH]

Chrome: Google Launches Open Source Browser Today

Google will host a press conference today at 11 a.m. PDT to launch its new OS browser named Chrome. Webware's Rafe Needleman will be live blogging the event. More on The Official Google Blog including this comic book guide to Chrome. See also Google Blogoscoped. [JH]

Blogs I Read

In Spectrum to AALL Members: "What Blogs Do You Read and Why?", we reported on AALL's call for contributions, due tomorrow, about favorite blogs law librarians regularly read. Here's three I read with illustrations why I subscribe to their feeds:

• Abbie Mulvihill's AbsTracked for this tip on UK government feeds by Informationoverlord.
• WisBlawg by Bonnie Shucha for alerting readers to the relaunch of LegalDockets.com as Courtport.com.
• Slaw, a group blog by our Canadian colleagues, for highlighting the NLP search engine Cognition and its use in online legal services.

Wouldn't have known about those developments and resources if their blogs weren't in my feed reader. In yours? [JH]

Click Enter: Does Privacy Exist Now That Anybody Can Disseminate Information Around the World?

The September issue of Scientific American is devoted to privacy. The best article is George Washington University Law School professor and Concurring Opinions blogger Dan Solove's Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy? Also very good, Data Fusion: The Ups and Downs of All-Encompassing Digital Profiles by Simson Garfinkel.

ABA Ethics Committee Issues Opinion Detailing Lawyer Responsibilities When Outsourcing Legal Work

U.S. lawyers can outsource legal work, including to lawyers or nonlawyers outside the country, as long as they adhere to ethics rules requiring competence, supervision, protection of confidential information, reasonable fees and not assisting unauthorized practice of law according to ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 08-451: Lawyer’s Obligations When Outsourcing Legal and Nonlegal Support Services (August 5, 2008).

See also: Ron Friedmann's Why and What Lawyers Should Consider Outsourcing (LRRX, Aug. 31, 2008). Hat tip to beSpacific. [JH]

SoliComm's International Labor Movement Search Engine

The Solidarity Community Network (SoliComm.net), a project of the Workers' Activities Programme (ACTRAV) of the International Labour Organization, has launched a search engine for union and union-related sites. Currently 300 of the world's largest labor websites areincluded in the SE's database.

Hat tip to Richard Bates (NKU-Chase), Workplace Prof Blog. [JH]

A Labor Day Story: Connecting the Globalization Dots Between Trade and Migration, Wealth and Exploitation

Deep in U.S. forests thousands of immigrant workers plant and tend the trees that produce the tons of wood pulp that Kimberley Clark then converts into toilet paper. Why is this significant? Because Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner and his family trust are significant stockholders in Kimberley Clark and in December 2005, he led the charge to pass in the House the most repressive immigration bill in recent memory. The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, H.R. 4437 [Thomas Resources], would have made federal felons of all 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., and criminalized teachers, nurses or priests who helped them. In The Political Economy of Migration, David Bacon writes "[Sensenbrenner's] family is intimately involved in creating the conditions that cause migration, and then profits from the labor it makes available. In fact, the Sensenbrenner family connections are a microcosm of the political economy of migration itself." [Links to addition immigration-related articles by David Bacon].

Bacon's 2007 article previewed an argument made in his just release book, Illegal Workers: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, September 1, 2008). About Bacon's important new book, Jeff Faux, distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, writes, “in clear and compelling language, David Bacon connects the dots between trade, migration and the maldistribution of wealth. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the cynical politics and human costs of the corporate protection racket we call globalization.”

If corporations can move anywhere in the world to maximize their earnings, people shouldn't have to risk exploitation, abuse, and even imprisonment when they try to do the same. The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization by Rinku Sen illustrates the challenges and contradictions of U. S. immigration policy in a world economy.  Rinku Sen, along with Fekkak Mamdouh, narrates the story of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) in this just released book. ROC-NY was founded to help restaurant workers fight for decent jobs and fair treatment in the face of a rising tide of anti-immigrant bias after 9/11. ROC-NY was able to unite native-born and immigrant workers, helping each group realize they were involved in a common struggle for better working conditions. The organization is now expanding nationwide. See Rinku Sen's 2007 Color Lines article, A New Window on the World.

The Accidental American critically assesses the challenges faced by advocates for immigrants' rights and drawing lessons from the local story about ROC-NY for the broader, national debates over immigration reform and globalization. For more, see Anil Kalhan's interview of Rinku Sen at Five Questions for Rinku Sen, Author of "The Accidental American"

Hat tip to Kevin Johnson (Dean, UC-Davis School of Law) for calling attention to Bacon's Illegal Workers and Sen's The Accidental American on ImmigrationProf Blog. [JH]

Carnegie Middle East Center Think Tank Traces the Origin of Current Middle Eastern Policies

There have been many attempts by the international community to bring order to the chaos within the Middle East. To accomplish any significant and enduring change, Arab states must themselves “overcome divisive ideologies, prioritize common interests, and develop a cooperative political and security architecture if a new regional order is to come to fruition.”   In The Middle East: Evolution of a Broken Regional Order, Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, examines how a number of key players in the Middle East perceived the threats and opportunities created by the aftermath of September 11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq and how they have shaped their policies in reaction to changing developments.

Salem offers analysis of:

• The emergence of the troubled Arab state system after the collapse of the Ottoman state
• The implications of political independence, the discovery of oil, and the founding of Israel
• The dynamics between Turkey, Iran, and the Arab states
• The implications of 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq for the regional state system
• Competing projects for a new regional order

[RJ]

Sarah Palin's Wikipedia Page Is Hot

Hot as in fast and furious editing. Days before being selected as John McCain's running mate for the Republican Party ticket, Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page was being edited more frequently than those of any other Republican Party vice presidential candidates. On the day of the announcement, Wikipedia editors raised her page's protection level because over a thousand edits had been made according to this CNET News account. [JH]

A Progressive Approach to U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century

The Olympic Games coupled an election year, have pushed U.S. policies towards China to the forefront.   Realizing the potential of the U.S.-China relationship, while guarding against future uncertainties, will constitute a central challenge to the next President and of American foreign policy this century.   In A Global Imperative A Progressive Approach to U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century the Center for American Progress  concludes that the “Next four years offer a critical window of opportunity to forge an innovative, durable, pragmatic, and effective approach to U.S.-China relations”.

Suggested policy priorities include:

• Climate change and energy security
• Balanced and sustainable global growth
• Enhanced security in the Asia-Pacific region
• China’s military modernization
• Stability in the Taiwan Strait
• Governance and individual rights

[RJ]