Neuroscience and Criminal Law

Are modern discoveries in neuroscience challenging such fundamental criminal law concepts as mens rea and the general notion of responsibility? Read more here, and see what you think.

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SCOTUS Revisits Affirmative Action

It has been nine years since the Court handled its last major affirmative action case: Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003, but today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas.  Fisher is an affirmative action case that examines whether the Court's decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003), permit the University of Texas at Austin's use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions.

To review the docket and read up to date SCOTUS coverage, click here.

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Debate 2012: Presidential Debate at Hofstra University

As you are aware Hofstra University is the host for the town-hall Presidential Debate on Tuesday, October 16th.  Are you taking advantage of the special activities and events the University is offering?  There are extraordinary opportunities to hear speakers and expert panel discussions on a variety of issues.  Check out Debate 2012 and read your emails to keep aware of what is happening and how you can participate.

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HeinOnline Search Syntax "Need Help" Link Feature

HeinOnline has recently added a "Need Help" link to the advanced search screen across its numerous collections and libraries.  This new feature will allow users to determine how to do a proximity and wildcard search as well as how to use the boosting feature.  The “Need Help?” link can be found below the search box field on the advanced search screens.  When the user clicks the “Need Help” link, a new window will open with information on volume or section level fields for that particular library, along with information on common search syntax for proximity, wildcard/root expanders, and boosting.  In addition, the window provides a link to the Advanced Search Syntax Guide for more information.  To learn more about this feature click here.

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Old News

Check out the Internet Archive's TV News collection of broadcasts.  At this site you can watch 365,000 news programs from a range of networks going back to 2009.  There is also a search function that will search the transcript text for your keywords.

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Wrongful Arrest For Wearing Too Many Electronic Gadgets?

A man in Georgia was recently arrested for wearing too many electronic devices on his person, which led to suspicions of terrorist activity. According to his attorney, the devices included a mobile phone, an MP3 player, and a GPS unit. Read more (and see his outfit) here.


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Fact Checking the First Presidential Debate

Tonight is the first debate between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.  If you are curious about a claim made by either candidate, perhaps one of the fact checkers below will have weighed-in on the issue.

Factcheck.org, PolitiFact and the Washington Post's Fact Checker blog each will have their fact-checking for the whole debate.  PolitiFact has separate pages for each claim, which are linked to individually.

Recently, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania hosted a discussion on the role of journalism in fact checking and holding politicians and political groups accountable. Click here to learn more.

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Keeping Dropbox Confidential

As more and more lawyers are cloud computing and taking their work with them wherever they go, the cloud application Dropbox is gaining a wide following in the legal field.  Dropbox works with many apps for lawyers, such as Trialpad and Transcriptpad, both built for the iPad.  But, Dropbox is not itself a secure program, because the Dropbox employees can access your folders for customer service, etc. 

The way around this?  Have a secure, encrypted folder nested within your other Dropbox folders.  One way to create such a folder is with Secretsync.  Whether you are about to be a practicing attorney or just starting the law school experience, keeping confidential files confidential is something that is priority one.  Give it a try now!

Get more information about Dropbox and Secretsync and keep it privileged.
This tip came from Tom Mighell, author of iPad in One Hour for Lawyers.

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Academic and Scholar Search Engines and Sources: An Annotated Link Compilation

This new guide by research guru Marcus P. Zillman focuses on the latest and most significant academic and scholar search engines and sources. With the addition of new and pertinent information continually released online from every sector, it is very easy to experience information overload. A real asset in responding to the challenges of so much data is to apply techniques to identify and locate significant, reliable academic and scholarly information that resides in both the visible and invisible web. The following selected academic and scholar search engines and sources offer a wide range of actionable information retrieval and extraction sources to help you accomplish your research goals.

Hat Tip to LLRX.com

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Research Resources: Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal (BNA)

If you are interested in a weekly publication that provides comprehensive news of the most important intellectual property cases, statutes, trends, take a look at BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal. The Journal provides coverage of legislation, regulations, litigation, industry news, and selected international developments in intellectual property law and more. 

To access the  Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal  (BNA):

• Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"     
• Click the "Intellectual Property Law" link     
• Scroll down to "Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal (BNA)"

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