Due Process: The Georgetown Law Library Blog

New ALR Series on International Law

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:08:00 -0500

ALR (American Law Reports) International is a new print title and Westlaw database (ALR-INT) which includes topics that have a global scope together with U.S. coverage. However, some annotations will have no U.S. Cases cited at all. There are differences between ALR International and ALR Fed 2d.:

Topic Coverage: ALR Fed 2d includes both U.S. and international topics that affect only the U.S. and that are jurisdiction specific. The international topics included in ALR International address legal issues of global importance, whether or not the U.S. is affected, and international topics that are not limited to any particular country or jurisdiction. For example, ALR Fed 2d will continue to cover topics such as:

Marriage Between Persons of Same Sex—United States and Canadian Cases, 1 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 1; Construction and Application of Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration, 1 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 309; Effect of World Trade Organization (WTO) Decisions Upon United States, 17 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 1.

ALR International will include issues that are of a truly global nature, affecting all regions of the world, but the global case law, such as: Construction and Application of United Nations Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards; Construction and Application of Hague Convention on Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters; and more.

Case Coverage: ALR Fed 2d includes U.S. cases, and cases from other English-speaking countries such as United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. ALR International includes all of these cases but also selected cases from non-English speaking countries, such as Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong,etc.

Written by Marylin Raisch

Law at the Movies Film Series

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:03:00 -0500

The Friends of the Georgetown Law Library invite you to take a study break and attend the Spring screenings of the Library’s Law at the Movies series.

Screening: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010

Time: 6:00 pm

Location: Hart Auditorium

Judgment at Nuremberg, starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Maximillian Schell, Judy Garland, and Montgomery Clift, is a film that examines ideals of law and justice embodied in a trial of four judges accused of using their office to commit war crimes. The film was nominated for 11 Oscars and won two.

After the screening we will host a discussion about the ethical and cultural issues in the film.

The panel will include:

Naomi Mezey, Georgetown Law Faculty
Kumar Jayasuriya, Adjunct Law Faculty and Associate Law Librarian for Patron Services
Marylin Raisch, Adjunct Law Faculty and Associate Law Librarian for International and Foreign Law

The next films in our series will be:

Thin Blue Line - March 4
Anatomy of a Murder - April 8

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library and to consider becoming a member, please look at the Friends of the Library website.

CIA Records Search Tool (CREST)

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:04:00 -0500

One of the advantages to being in Washington, D.C. is having access to research materials housed at local libraries and archives. One such tool is CREST - the CIA Records Search Tool. According to NARA, this database includes "Directorate of Operations reports on the role of intelligence in the post WW-II period; material on the creation, organization, and role of the CIA within the U.S. Government; a collection of foreign scientific articles, ground photographs and associated reference materials; and the CIA's first release of motion picture film."

This database is only available at NARA's Archives Library Information Center in College Park, Maryland. Remote users can use the CIA Finding Aid to CREST and then request the documents using FOIA procedures. More details about CREST are available on the CIA's website.

LLRX.com Columns on GPO's FDsys

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:50:58 -0500

LLRX.com just released the second of two columns written by Peggy Garvey on GPO's still-fairly-new Federal Digital System (FDsys). The initial column, published last July, was an introduction to FDsys along with some simple search tips. The new column includes an update as to the collections now available via FDsys as well as tips for more advanced search techniques (including several helpful example searches). Click here to view the new column on LLRX.com, and, if you're interested in experimenting with the FDsys system for yourself, click here to access FDsys.

Law at the Movies Film Series

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:30:00 -0500

The Friends of the Georgetown Law Library invite you to take a study break and attend the Spring screenings of the Library’s Law at the Movies series.

Screening: A Few Good Men (1992)

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010

Time: 6:00 pm

Location: Hart Auditorium

A Few Good Men stars Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Kevin Bacon in a 1992 court-martial drama. The film examines military law, court room technique, and the difficult national security issues in Guantamo even before the base was used to detain suspected terrorists. The film was nominated for four Oscars and won seven awards from other organizations.

After the screening we will host a discussion about the ethical and cultural issues in the film.

The panel will include:

Naomi Mezey, Georgetown Law Faculty
Greg Klass, Georgetown Law Faculty
Kumar Jayasuriya, Adjunct Law Faculty and Associate Law Librarian for Patron Services
Marylin Raisch, Adjunct Law Faculty and Associate Law Librarian for International and Foreign Law

The next films in our series will be:

Judgment at Nuremberg - February 4
Thin Blue Line - March 4
Anatomy of a Murder - April 8

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library and to consider becoming a member, please look at the Friends of the Library website.

Williams Library Reading Room Collection Shifts

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:40:00 -0500

The Library’s collection of Bound Exams has been moved from the copy room to the Reference shelves along the wall on the right hand side heading towards Special Collections.

The Popular Reading Periodicals have been relocated to the Alcove in the Loewinger Lounge.

NALP Commission Report Suggests Change is on the Horizon for Recruiting in the Legal Profession

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:40:00 -0500

The National Association of Law Placement (NALP) released the initial recommendations of their Commission on Recruiting in the Legal Profession today calling for a "shift away from rolling offer deadlines toward a framework based on specific dates (Offer Kick-Off Days) before which offers should not be made."

Read all about their recommendations for 1L, 2L and 3L recruiting, as well as timing of on-campus interviews in their report.

THOMAS Adds New Features

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:33:04 -0500

As the 111th Congress begins its 2nd session, the Library of Congress' legislative resource, THOMAS, has made some revisions to their website including:

Top Five Bills - On the right side of the homepage, the 5 most-searched-for bills will be highlighted with direct links to the Bill Summary and Status page. This will be readjusted on a weekly basis.
Tip of the Week - In-depth information on a particular topic will be featured each week in this new box on the right side of the homepage.
Increased Timeout Interval - The temporary THOMAS pages will now be available for 20 minutes, instead of the previous 5 minutes.

For a complete listing of all changes, check out the news release.

Supreme Court Research Guide Updated

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:22:00 -0500

Georgetown Law Library recently revised our Supreme Court Research Guide. The guide includes where to find information on the history of the Court, biographies of Justices, opinions and other Court documents, rules and practice materials, statistics, and more.

Notable additions to the revised guide include the Supreme Court Database, a user-friendly, web-based database containing data on Supreme Court decisions from the 1953 to 2008 terms; State of the Federal Judiciary: Annual Reports of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by Shelley L. Dowling, which contains the Chief Justice’s annual reports from 1970 to present; and Kenneth Jost’s The New York Times on the Supreme Court, 1857-2008, a unique resource on the history of the Court with extensive excerpts from the New York Times.

The revised guide also lists updated editions of important works on the Supreme Court, such as Memorials of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, which now includes a sixth volume containing the memorials of twenty-two additional Justices, and unique historical works, such as a microfilm collection of documents from an FBI file on the Supreme Court.

Health IT Law & Industry Report Now Available

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:09:00 -0500

The BNA publication Health IT Law & Industry Report is now available to the Georgetown Law community. It focuses on federal and state laws related to implementing and maintaining secure and nationally available electronic health care and medical records.

Georgetown Law faculty & students can sign up to receive this daily electronic newsletter (along with other BNA publications).

Library Hours During the Holidays and Winter Break

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:53:00 -0500

Starting Sunday December 20^th and concluding on January 9^th, both the Williams and Wolff Libraries will follow our winter break schedule. In particular both libraries will be closed December 24^th, 25^th, 31^st and January 1^st, and will be open limited hours and will have reduced reference hours during the rest of the time period.

The Williams Library’s schedule is as follows: Monday – Friday the library will be open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with reference service from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. (Except during the week between Christmas and New Years, when the reference desk will be staffed from 11:00 am to 5 pm). On Saturdays the Library's hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and on Sundays they are noon to 8:00 pm. There is no weekend reference service during winter break.

Please note that the Williams Library Reading Room is open to current Georgetown Law students for extended hours. Monday – Friday the hours are from 7:00 am to 2:00 am, Saturdays the hours are 9:00 am to 2:00 am, and Sundays they are noon to 2:00 am.

The Wolff Library’s schedule is as follows:
Monday – Friday the library will be open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with reference service from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. (Except during the week between Christmas and New Years, when the reference desk will be staffed from Noon to 4:00 pm).On Saturday the hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and on Sunday they are noon to 8:00 pm. There is no weekend reference service during winter break.

Please note that for the dates December 28 – 30, 2009, access to Hotung (the building the Wolff Library is located) is possible only using a GOCard, or by calling the Department of Public Safety at (202-662-9325). Please wait and an officer will respond to admit you.

For a complete schedule of hours please consult our library website.

Happy Holidays.

The Wikipedia Debate Continues

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:33:59 -0500

The ABA Journal recently featured an article discussing recent problems with some Maryland juries using Wikipedia and Facebook while deliberating in trials. The comments to the article also feature some commentary about other dangers of citation to Wikipedia in legal research and writing, citing examples of Wikipedia entries being rewritten during cases. The heightened fears of citation to and reliance on Wikipedia contrasts with at least one co-authored piece, co-written by a student and law clerk, (Murray, Hannah B. and Miller, Jason C., Wikipedia in Court: When and How Citing Wikipedia and Other Consensus Websites is Appropriate (November 10, 2009). St. John's Law Review , Vol. 84, No. 2, (2010) available on SSRN) who believe that citing to Wikipedia is appropriate when relying on "the wisdom of the crowds". However, another student written comment (Amber L. Wagner, Comment: Wikipedia Made Law? The Federal Judicial Citation to Wikipedia, 26 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info L. 229 (2008)) took the opposite view, that Wikipedia should never be cited and goes so far as to propose a rule to ban citation to Wikipedia in judicial opinions because of the ability to manipulate information.

Clearly, the debate about citation to Wikipedia and the use of Wikipedia in courts by judges, clerks, attorneys and jurors is ongoing and many law students are now weighing in on the subject. What do you think about the future of Wikipedia in the legal research and practice?

Study Aids at the Library

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:25:00 -0500

Study aids can help you prepare for exams by supplementing your assigned readings and lectures, clarifying confusing concepts, and even providing practice questions. A variety of aids are available, and the best one for you depends on the course and your own study habits and educational needs. Most study aids are available in the Reading Room Reserve. Outlines are available at the Circulation Desk in Williams.

The library carries many study aids for first-year and upper-level courses, including:

· Examples & Explanations (practice questions and answers)

· Nutshells (a broad overview of a topic)

· Hornbooks (in-depth treatment with extensive citations)

· Concise Hornbooks (the core principles covered in a “typical” course)

· Mastering Series (roadmaps and checklists to ensure knowledge of key concepts)

· Understanding Series (“concise yet comprehensive”)

· Concepts & Insights (provides a good, basic theoretical foundation)

· Turning Point (a broad overview similar to Nutshells)

· Emanuel Law Outlines (a basic outline of a subject with Q&A)

Top Legal Career Blogs featured in the Third Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:03:24 -0500

The ABA Journal released it's third annual listing of their top 100 blogs for the legal professional. Unlike past years, the journal editors asked for reader input and as a result there are 40 completely new blogs not included in past issues.

The blogs are categorized by news, business of law, legal tech and more. One area of interest might be the section on career which features some blogs offering interesting perspectives of the legal profession and its changing environment.

As in past years, readers can vote for their favorite blog during the month of December.

Ready? 3...2...1...Europe!

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:57:44 -0500

The Treaty of Lisbon enters into force on 1 December 2009. Czech President Vaclav Klaus sealed the deal by depositing his country's instruments of ratification in Rome; an informal summit took place on 19 November; and now, almost one year behind the originally envisioned schedule (article 6 of the treaty indicated coming into force on 1 January 2009, or on the first day of the month following the deposit of the last required instrument of ratification, which just occurred) the "Europe of the 21st Century" is finally in place. Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium (he was the Prime Minister) is now the President of the EU (for a longer 2.5 year term) and Catherine Ashton of the UK is now the EU foreign minister, or high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. It is a sort of President and Secretary of State for the EU as an entity, and this enables the EU, with assurances to some member states (such as Ireland), to undertake common defense and promote some of the new rights in the citizens' initiatives. These and other changes do not affect military neutrality, if that has been a state's policy, and streamline many of the procedures related to border security.