2013 Country Reports on Human Rights

This week the U.S. State Department released the latest of its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (known popularly as the Human Rights Reports), and submitted them to Congress, as required by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.). The Human Rights Reports cover human rights developments and practices during 2013 in all United Nations member states and all countries receiving U.S. assistance. They inform and assist not only Congress in framing foreign policy legislation, but also other governments, journalists, researchers and non-governmental aid organizations worldwide.

The 2013, 2012 and 2011 Human Rights Reports, with global overviews, features for selecting reports on individual countries and filtering by issue across countries, and key United Nations human rights documents, are available here on the Department of State website.  The site also provides the text of all Human Rights Reports going back to 1999.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Strategically

Discover how to develop a research strategy with smart ways to tackle tough questions at  the first of the Library's Research Life-Line Workshop Series.  

[This workshop had been cancelled from earlier in Feb. due to snow storm #87 - o.k., maybe that is an exaggeration, but you get the point.]

Date:  Wed. March 5
Time:  12:10-1p
Where:  Room 243

Lunch and surprise gifts for all attendees.
Please R.S.V.P. at  lawdek@hofstra.edu

See complete schedule of Research Life-Line Workshop series, for details on future workshops.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Supreme Court Ruling in Recent Personal Jurisdiction Case

Does the phrase “minimum contacts” ring a bell (or evoke a shudder)? In a case that will trigger recollections of first-year Civil Procedure for upper-year students, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that “no matter how significant plaintiff's contacts with the forum may be, those contacts cannot be ‘decisive in determining whether the defendant's due process rights are violated.’ Moreover, the minimum contacts test looks to the defendant's contacts with the forum state itself, not the defendant's contacts with persons who 

reside there.”

Read more here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

eBooks at Hofstra

"Did you know that many of the ebooks licensed by the Library can be downloaded to your computer or portable device?  The downloading capability is not available for all ebooks, because some publishers restrict downloading.  Most ebooks in the Library's collection from Ebsco, which comprises over 100,000 titles, can be downloaded.  

Unfortunately, the process is not as straight-forward as you might find on a Kindle or similar device, but with a little set up it is pretty straight-forward.  There is a LibGuide that outlines the process for the ebooks from Ebsco and from several other publishers.  It can be found here:  http://libguides.hofstra.edu/download_ebooks"

Hat tip Howard Graves

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014

Yesterday, The House unanimously passed “H.R. 1211, the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 .  The bill was co-sponsored by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), and puts into action an executive memorandum from President Barack Obama that calls on all agencies to have a "presumption of disclosure" to all FOIA decisions.”

Click here to read more.

Hat tip to Politioc

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New Book: The Emergency Sasquatch Ordinance

Have you ever wondered which states have official state neckwear or whether you can legally have a snowball fight in Aspen, CO?

The Emergency Sasquatch Ordinance And Other Real Laws that Human Beings Have Actually Dreamed Up, Enacted, and Sometimes Even Enforced is a book about strange-but-true laws .

Read it today at the Hofstra Law Library (K183 .U53)
http://libweb.hofstra.edu/record=b2403317~S1

FYI: (3 states have official state neckwear and no, snowball fights are not legal, so you'd better stick to skiing in Aspen)

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

From Student Lawyer: What Employers Really Value

The February 2014 issue of the Student Lawyer has an article titled "What Employers Really Value".  Grades and class rank are important but there are other important traits that are valued more. 

1.  Can they research?  Can they write?  These are given several times as important skills the associate must have.  The Library's Research Life-Line Workshop series are coming in March to help you with the research value.

2.  Good judgment and this includes knowing when to ask for guidance.

3.  Client focus, what do you plan to do for your client?

These are just snippets.  You should read the article. 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Environmental Law & Due Diligence Research Guide

Are you researching environmental law or due diligence and would like to have all the resources in one place?  Try the Environmental Law & Due Diligence Research Guide, this guide is designed to give you an overview of print and online resources relevant to environmental law and due diligence research.  This guide only reflects resources available in the Law Library and online.  It covers resources for case law, federal materials, treatises, forms, federal agencies and more!  Click here to access the guide.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat