The number of Bureau of National Affairs publications available on the Web to the Georgetown Law community has expanded. The newest titles are: Alternative Investment Law Report, State Attorneys General News, Workplace Immigration Report, World Climate Change Report, and Web Watch. This last site contains links to documents on hot topics, as selected by BNA staff.
According to the SCOTUSblog:
The Court has released the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), on whether the District's firearms regulations which bar the possession of handguns and require shotguns and rifles to be kept disassembled or under trigger lock violate the Second Amendment. The ruling below, which struck down the provisions in question, is affirmed...Quoting the syllabus: The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
Justice Scalia authored the majority opinion, available via the SCOTUSblog here, and two dissenting opinions were filed, one authored by Justice Stevens (joined by Justices Souter, Ginsberg and Breyer) and one authored by Justice Breyer (joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsberg).
FictionDB, formerly available as a subscription but now free, offers easy access to concise information about works of fiction and their authors. You can search this database to find authors and lists of their titles. You will also find reviews, synopses, other works in the same series, news of upcoming releases, and ways to buy books from booksellers. Create an account and you can track your own collection and wish list.
Look no further than the Williams Reading Room, where we've displayed some of the most recent additions to our "Popular Reading Collection".
Some of the featured titles include:
Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee, a Georgetown Law grad
The Law Clerk: a novel, by Scott D. Gerber
In the Ring: the Trials of a Washington Lawyer, by Robert S. Bennett
Chambermaid: a novel, by Saira Rao
Many more are on display and other popular titles are available in the Loewinger Lounge at the West End of the Williams Reading Room, so stop by and pick up a book to read "just for the fun of it".
The library will be holding a series of RA training sessions over the course of the summer. The classes will cover topics such as social science and statistics research, advanced Lexis and Westlaw techniques and international and foreign law research.
RAs may also schedule individual research consultations with Jen Davitt (jnl8@law.georgetown.edu) or with Thanh Nguyen (nguyent2@law.georgetown.edu).
In addition, we will be providing an orientation to the library's services and policies for all new RAs over lunch on May 22, 2008.Sign up for classes and the orientation lunch here.
The Georgetown University Law Library has received a Law Library Publication Award from the American Association of Law Libraries for developing several Web-based legal research tutorials designed to teach first-year law students the basics of legal research. View all tutorials online on our website
Starting in 2007, the Georgetown librarians created the tutorials by using multimedia elements such as interactive demonstrations of online research, scored review questions, and sound to create a self-paced active learning environment to teach legal research skills. Many of the tutorials also require the user's participation in navigating a variety of legal research database simulations.
The tutorials cover topics such as case law research, statutory research, regulatory research, legislative history, secondary resources, and international law research.
The project coordinators were Kumar Percy Jayasuriya, Sara Sampson, and Sara Kelley. The tutorial authors were Amy Burchfield, Sara Kelley, Margaret Krause, Barbara Monroe, Sara Sampson, and Amy Taylor.
An article about the project is featured in the September 2007 issue of the Edward Bennett Williams Friends Newsletter.
Sara Kelley wrote a short article about the project on page 17 of of the Fall 2007 issue of Law Library Lights.
During the Spring 2008 semester, the Law Library conducted a survey asking students to comment on various aspects of the library. 740 students responded, providing more than 1,500 separate responses. The Library is reviewing all feedback, and we plan to publish a detailed response during the summer. For now, we've posted several charts summarizing the results. View 2008 Survey Results on our website here.
One of the more interesting results from the survey is a list of reasons people come to our library. The top reason is to study in a queit environment, followed by conducting research. Beyond that, it's nice to know that people continue to use the library for more traditional uses, such as checking out books and getting reference assistance.
The AM LAW 100 was released by the American Lawyer magazine today showcasing the "noteworthy trends and newsmaking firms" for the year. Free registration is required to review the material online, but it might behoove you to review the articles and charts if an interview (or new job or internship) is in your future.
Additional resources on interviewing and law firms can be found in our Job Searching Research Guide.
The Library has put together a display of resources about admission to the bar in the Reading Room at the Williams Library.
Curious about the requirements for admission to the bar of a particular state? Check out the ABA's Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements for details
An annotated bibliography of articles about admission to the bar (including the exam) is available online via the Law Librarian Blog.
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