Public Interest Law Story

March is the month of Hofstra's Annual Public Justice Foundation Auction. It's also Women's History Month. "Our History is Our Strength," the 2011 theme, is superbly represented by the life and career of Clara Foltz, California's first woman lawyer and the inventor of the role of public defender in the United States. You can learn more about Foltz and other pioneering women lawyers, and explore online resources in the history of women in the legal profession, at the Women's Legal History (WHL) web site, maintained by Stanford Law Professor Barbara Babcock. Professor Babcock's new book, Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, is now in the Law Library (call number: KF368.F585 B33 2011), on the New Book Table.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Virtually Mobile

Yes, even a virtual feline needs to go mobile now and again. I have just read about an upgrade to an organizational utility called Evernote . I can download Evernote to my laptop or workstation and my iphone or other smartphone - including Droid phones. Using Evernote, I can then type notes, snap pictures with my phone, record sound files, save text and links from web pages. All of this is then synced to your account on the web and you can access and search your notes from any device anywhere.

I will definitely make use of this to save articles and web sites I find when I am researching. For other ideas on how to make use of Evernote, check out their Learn More page.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S. Supreme Court Ethics Bill?

Two Democratic lawmakers have announced legislation that would significantly alter the ways in which U.S. Supreme Court justices handle ethical questions.

According to a recent news article, “[T]he legislation would require the Judicial Conference to set up a process for taking in ethics complaints about the justices, and for investigating those complaints. It would require justices to explain their decisions to recuse or not recuse from a case, and if a justice has turned down a motion to disqualify, it would allow the rest of the Court to disqualify the justice”.

Read more here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Resources: Family Law Reporter

Are you looking for a family law resource? Try Family Law Reporter (BNA). The Family Law Reporter is a weekly publication containing new federal and state cases, legislation, trends, and issues in the area of family law.

To access Family Law Reporter (BNA):

* Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
* Click the "Family Law" link
* Click on "Family Law Reporter (BNA)"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

"Free" Federal Court Documents

We have posted about free access to federal court documents before here and here.

This is just a note on how to get federal court documents for "free."

Justia's free federal dockets site republishes many of the federal court dockets that are available from PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) for 8 cents per page. Some of the individual court documents from those dockets are also available for free on Justia.

And even though PACER charges 8 cents per page to access court documents, if your bill is lower than $10 for the quarter, you will not be charged.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Full Text Reports

Full text reports is a site that offers the full text documents published by government, academic, research institutes and more. Not the easiest site to search but it does have subject categories and tabs for type of publisher and by government.

This is a good place to search for current, scholarly and authoritative documents.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals

The Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals is a helpful guide that contains information about submitting articles to law reviews and journals. It is available on SSRN and is written by Allen Rostron and Nancy Levit. The recently updated guide outlines methods for submitting articles for 202 law reviews. It also provides any special formatting requirements of the law review/journal, as well as the process on how to request an expedited review or to withdraw an article from consideration. Access the guide here(first time SSRN users must sign up for an account).
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat