Due Process: Georgetown Law Library Blog

NEW: Search & Retrieve Articles through the Library Catalog

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:22:00 -0400

If you’ve recently used the Encore catalog interface to search for library materials, you may have noticed a helpful new feature: Direct links to relevant journal and newspaper articles now appear along with books and other resources in your search results.

Synergy, a new software add-on to the Encore search platform, works to retrieve full-text and summaries of individual documents and articles from over 25 of the Law Library’s most popular databases, including HeinOnline, ProQuest Congressional, LexisNexis Academic, ProQuest Newspapers, JSTOR, and LegalTrac.

In most cases, finding a specific law review article in PDF is now as easy as entering the article’s title or citation in the search box at http://discover.ll.georgetown.edu/iii/encore, or in a Keyword search under “Find Books, Journals and e-Resources” on the Law Library homepage at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu.

True to the resource discovery concept behind Encore, Synergy also offers enhanced options for more general article-level research on a topic.

For example, you can find articles related to any Encore search by clicking the Articles link at the top left of the results page. From there, browse and select from the corresponding documents in Hein Core Collections of legal periodicals listed by relevance, or choose another folder at left to see only articles within a certain topic or source category. Click the PDF or Full Text links to open the articles in new browser tabs. (See screenshots below.)

For more information or assistance using the new Encore Synergy feature, please get in touch with a reference librarian. We’ll be happy to help you out at the Wolff or Williams reference desks, by email, Live Help chat, or by phone.

Food Policy Reminder

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:23:00 -0400

A friendly reminder --

Patrons are permitted to eat in the Williams Library, except in the Reading Room on the second floor.

As we head into finals, the Williams Library Reading Room becomes more popular and much more crowded. Please respect your fellow students and the silence of the Reading Room by eating in other permitted areas of the library.

For more information about the Library's food policy, please read Food & Drink Policies.

Best of luck on finals!

Charles Taylor Found Guilty in Blood Diamond Case

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:04:00 -0400

Liberia's former President Charles Taylor was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity Thursday by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The court was formed in 2002 to address the UN Security Council’s “deep concern at the very serious crimes committed within the territory of Sierra Leone against the people of Sierra Leone and United Nations and associated personnel and at the prevailing situation of impunity.” The trial was held in The Hague because conducting the proceedings in Sierra Leone itself was deemed potentially too destabilizing for West Africa.

Taylor was found guilty on 11 counts, including murder, conscription of child soldiers, rape and sexual slavery. He was tried for supplying weapons to the brutal rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during Sierra Leone's bloody civil war, which ended in 2001. In return, the rebels supplied him with raw diamonds, so-called blood diamonds.

The court found Taylor guilty of "sustained and significant" support for the rebels who committed the various atrocities, although it found him not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of ordering those abuses himself. The trial lasted 5 years and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for late May where Taylor could face life imprisonment.

Taylor is the first African head of state to be tried in an international court and the first former head of state to have a judgment brought against him since the Nuremburg trials that followed WWII. But, another former African head of state, Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, is now awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is also located in The Hague.

2012 Law Library Student Survey Responses

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:52:00 -0400

We have now concluded the 2012 Annual Student Survey for the Georgetown Law Library. This year, 485 students responded. Here's a quick overview chart showing the respresentation of student responses:

Thanks to all the students who responded. We've published a summary of responses on our site: 2012 Law Library Student Survey Responses.

Congratulations to 1L student William D. Reiter, who won an Amazon Kindle Fire as part of the drawing for this year's survey. He was chosen at random from all student responders. He is shown here with Associate Law Librarian Kumar Jayasuriya along with his new device.

Thanks again to our students for providing valuable feedback on library services, online content and resources. We're starting now to review all comments. Over the coming weeks, we'll review all comments.

Changes to Free Online Legal Material

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:38:00 -0400

Patrons who use our Free and Low-Cost Legal Research Guide will be interested in some recent developments in the availability of free legal material online. First, Lexis recently shut down lexisOne, their site for free case law. Now, the only way to access case law through Lexis is to subscribe to their premium services (Lexis Advance and Lexis.com).

On a more positive note, however, the Public Library of Law (PLoL) is once again being kept up-to-date. The PLoL, provided by low-cost alternative Fastcase, was not being updated with current material for a brief time, but that problem seems to have been corrected.

Fastcase and PLoL are only two of the free and low-cost alternatives to the dominant legal research services. For more information, consult our research guide for the particular type of material you are interested in (cases, statutes, etc.). For each type of legal material, the guide has links to the relevant websites, dates of coverage, and available search options.

World Bank to Provide Open Access to its Research

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:50:00 -0400

Change is afoot at the World Bank. Jim Yong Kim was recently named as the next president of the bank effective in June. Kim is a physician with a doctorate in anthropology and his development experience includes addressing the problem of making HIV treatment available in the developing world. Additionally, last week the World Bank announced its new Open Access policy, effective July 1, which formalizes its policy of making research and knowledge freely available online.

The new Open Access policy will be implemented in phases throughout the year. For the first phase, the World Bank just launched a new Open Knowledge Repository and adopted a set of Creative Commons copyright licenses.

Now anybody is free to use, re-use and redistribute most of the bank's knowledge products and research for commercial or non-commercial purposes. The policy will also apply to Bank research published with third party publishers including the institution’s two journals—World Bank Research Observer (WBRO) and World Bank Economic Review (WBER). The bank will respect publishing embargoes, but expects the amount of time it takes for externally published bank content to be included in its institutional repository to diminish over time.

While much of the bank’s research has been available for free on the World Bank website and other places, the Open Access policy marks a change in how that information is accessed. The Open Knowledge Repository will now be the new home for all World Bank research. It currently contains works from 2009-2012. It will be updated regularly and coverage will be expanded both backwards and forwards.

Law at the Movies: Erin Brockovich - Thu. Apr. 19

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:11:00 -0400

The Friends of the Georgetown Law Library invite you to the latest screening in the Law at the Movies film series:

Movie: Erin Brockovich (2000)
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Hart Auditorium

Based upon a true story, this award-winning film focuses on a legal assistant and her small law firm who uncover and prosecute a class action suit over the environmental poisoning of a small California town. Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of Brockovich, who sacrificed her time and limited resources in passionate pursuit of justice.

After the program, please stay for a discussion on the ethical, legal, and cultural aspects of the film. The panel will include:

Michael Frisch, Adjunct Professor of Law & Ethics Counsel
Kumar Jayasuriya, Adjunct Professor of Law & Associate Law Librarian
Andrew Christensen, Reference Librarian
Jason Zarin, Reference Librarian

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library program and the benefits of becoming a member, please visit http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/friends.

Fri 4/13 5th Annual Denim Day at Georgetown

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:44:00 -0400

For several years, a day in April has been designated as “Denim Day” to promote public awareness of sexual violence against women. Here is some background on how Denim Day came to be.

It began in 1999 in response to an Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) decision that overturned a rape conviction. There was a dispute about consent. In overturning the decision on the consent issue, the court found that “it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them.” As a response to this decision female legislators appeared on the doorstep of Parliament wearing jeans and holding signs that read “Jeans: An Alibi for Rape.”

There was a second, similar case in 2008 where the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) reviewed a lower court decision with very similar reasoning which had found that “it was impossible to, with the girl wearing jeans and being seated, put his hand under her pants and touch” her. This time the high court overturned the lower court and its own 1999 ruling finding that “[t]he fact that the girl was wearing jeans was not an obstacle to her intimate parts, because it is possible for him to penetrate with his hand under the garment, which is not comparable to a chastity belt.”

This development has “closely aligned the Italian Supreme Court with the European Court of Human Rights’ dictates, and ultimately has marked a step forward towards gender equality and women’s right to sexual autonomy.”

Denim Day however lives on as a reminder and as a way to combat such attitudes.

Babar Ahmad and Extradition, European Court of Human Rights

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:42:00 -0400

Today the Chamber judgment of the ECHR came down in the case of Babar Ahmad and Others v. United Kingdom, application
nos. 24027/07, 11949/08, 36742/08, 66911/09 and 67354/09, dated 10 April 2012. This case concerns six alleged international terrorist detained in the UK, including the often-publicized case of Mustafa Kamal Mustafa (also known as Abu Hamza), The main points of the decision include the following:

"...no violation of Article 3 [of the European Convention on Human Rights (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) of
the European Convention on Human Rights as a result of conditions of detention at ADX
Florence (a “supermax” prison in the United States) – if Mr Ahmad, Mr Ahsan, Mr Abu
Hamza, Mr Bary and Mr Al-Fawwaz were extradited to the USA; and,

no violation of Article 3 of the Convention as a result of the length of their possible
sentences if Mr Ahmad, Mr Ahsan, Abu Hamza, Mr Bary and Mr Al-Fawwaz were
extradited."

Issues of conditions in detention after trial under death penalty and life- without- parole circumstances have been controversial in European human rights case law (protocol no. 6 of the European Human Rights treaty abolished the death penalty). It is important to note that this judgment is not final because there is a further procedure, with time limits, for referral to a Grand Chamber, which may take up the referral for further examination and final judgment, or decline to do so, making this decision the final one. The court considers, but is not bound by, its precedents. The treaty, formally known as the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and its protocols, are posted at the Treaty Office of the Council of Europe.

State Attorney General Reports and Opinions now available on HeinOnline

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:22:00 -0400

Member of the Georgetown Law community can now use HeinOnline to access State Attorney General Reports and Opinions for all 50 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. This material is searchable by keyword or by Opinion Number. At this time, opinions and reports from 1980 to the present are available online and Hein is adding earlier opinions with the anticipation of making opinions from all years accessible over the next twelve months.

If you have any questions when using the HeinOnline database, feel free to ask a reference librarian.

Women's History at Georgetown

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:16:06 -0400

As Special Collections’ celebration of Women’s History Month concludes, the Law Center Archives focuses on the history of women at the Law Center.

In the ‘Proclamation for Women’s History Month, 2012,’ President Obama spoke about the “arc of the American story in the dynamic women who shaped our present and the groundbreaking girls who will steer our future.” In slightly more than sixty years, the number and influence of women at the Law Center have grown from a series of women’s ‘firsts’ to becoming an equal and integral part of the Law Center and practice of law.

Ruth Paven, seen here in the middle, became the first woman graduate in 1953.

This year’s graduating class will be comprised almost equally of men and women.

As their individual numbers at the Law Center increased, women’s groups evolved from Kappa Beta Pi sorority through the Women’s Rights Collection to a variety of student organizations and alumnae groups, including the Women’s Forum.

Wendy Williams, Georgetown Professor Emerita, shown here facilitating audience participation at the first Women’s Forum in 1992.

Opportunities for service grew as the curriculum and clinical programs evolved. The Georgetown Sex Discrimination Clinic, the first of its kind in the country, flourished and expanded into the Domestic Violence Clinic and the International Women's Human Rights Clinic.

Empowerment of women is the theme of this year’s Women’s History Month. If you would like to learn more about individual women or groups at Georgetown Law, contact the Archives at 202-662-9133 or email bah54@law.georgetown.edu.

Survey Closed - Take the 2012 Annual Student Library Survey

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:49:00 -0400

The Law Library is conducting a survey of all Georgetown law students. Please take about 10 minutes to give us your feedback on the law library's collections, services and a related matters. We promise to read every comment submitted, and we'll do what we can to act on and respond to your feedback.

Take the 2012 Law Library Survey [Georgetown login required]

One lucky student completing the survey will win an Amazon Kindle Fire. We will keep the survey open through Thursday, April 12, and plan to announce the student winner during April after the survey closes.

It should only take a few minutes to complete the voluntary survey. Based on feedback in prior years, we revised the past exam archive, created an online group study reservation system, relocated the reference desk in the Wolff Library and purchased new chairs for the Williams Reading Room and Williams library fifth floor. In addition, we have added book scanners, and we enhanced frequently-used library collections, including our collection of DVD and study aids.

Read a summary of survey results from the last several years, together with our response each year: Annual Law Library Student Survey.

Photo: Questions / Oberazzi / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Transcripts & Audio of the March 28, 2012 (Medicaid issue) Supreme Court hearing on the PPACA

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:50:00 -0400

Transcripts & audio of the March 28, 2012, hearing on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Medicaid/state coercion issue) have been posted on the Supreme Court's website:

Transcript: http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/11-400.pdf

Audio: http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio_detail.aspx?argument=11-400

Transcripts & Audio of the March 28, 2012 (Severability issue) Supreme Court hearing on the PPACA

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:51:00 -0400

Transcripts & audio of the March 28, 2012, hearing on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (severability issue) have been posted on the Supreme Court's website:

Transcript: http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/11-393.pdf

Audio: http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio_detail.aspx?argument=11-393

International Finance Arbitration Forum Launched in The Hague

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:34:00 -0400

P.R.I.M.E. Finance (Panel of Recognized International Market Experts in Finance) was created in January to offer a dispute resolution choice for financial products, especially complex ones like derivatives. This forum seeks to improve on the older dispute resolution options because it has neutrality (which could be lacking in national courts) as well as subject matter expertise (which could be lacking in other arbitration fora). It also offers the increased speed typical of arbitration.

The P.R.I.M.E. Finance Arbitration Rules are based on the 2010 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules although the do contain a number of modifications. The rules retain the confidentiality of the parties which is common to arbitration and which makes arbitration popular. But, the rules also allow excerpts of awards to be published without the parties’ consent in order to develop a body of law for future use. This is relatively novel in international commercial arbitration.