Award-Winning Contract Drafting Blog

Here’s an outstanding addition to any formal skills training or on-the-job experience: Adams on Contract Drafting. This blog uniquely focuses on the language, not the content, of business contracts—how to express what you want to say in “modern and effective contract language.”

This award-winning blog is the creation of Ken Adams, an internationally recognized consultant and speaker, a former corporate law practitioner who taught the first contract drafting course at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and the author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, published by the American Bar Association (latest edition, 2013).  For anyone interested in how to express effectively what you mean to say in business contracts, Adams on Contract Drafting is definitely worth checking out.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research alert - check out Google Scholar Library

Those engineers at Google don't rest much.  They have introduced an enhancement to Google Scholar, called Google Scholar Library.

Google Scholar, for the uninitiated, searches scholarly articles and will sometimes even provide links when Hofstra subscribes .  Google Scholar Library enhances functionality by allowing you to save, organize and search articles of interest.    

See Google Scholar blog for details.
                                                        Hat tip to Prof Hacker



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S. Privacy Board Findings On NSA Phone Surveillance Program

From the article at Jurist: 

"The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), an independent agency created by Congress to protect American privacy under anti-terrorism laws, issued a report on Thursday calling the NSA's metadata program illegal and saying that it should be ended".

Read more by following the link, above.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Law Library Closed

Due to weather conditions, the University is closed today, Wednesday, January 22, 2014. The law library is open for law student and faculty swipe access only.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Law Library Will Close at 2:00 PM Today

·        Due to weather conditions, the University will be closed as of 2 p.m. today, Tuesday, January 21, 2014.  Classes are cancelled, the law library will be open for student swipe access only, and University offices will be closed.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Since there are no classes today, take a few moments to Dr. King's life and work.

1.  The King Center:  Established in 1968 by Mrs. Coretta Scott King, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”) has been a global destination, resource center and community institution for over a quarter century.

2.  History.com - Martin Luther King Jr.:  has videos, speeches, photo galleries and interactive histories.

3.  Martin Luther King Jr. - Day of Service:   Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"

4.  Personal recommendation:  Letter from Birmingham Jail.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Online Resources: BNA Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts

If you are looking for a source that reviews information about negotiating and administering contracts, in addition to providing sample contract clauses relating to collective bargaining, try Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts (BNA).  The manual contains chapters on pay plans, employee benefits, working conditions and provides sample clauses on economic weapons of labor, wages/hours and more.

To access the Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts manual:

• Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
• Click the "Labor and Employment Law" link
• Scroll down to "Collective Bargaining Negotiations & Contracts (BNA)"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The African American Electorate: A Statistical History

Hofstra Law students have full access to this unique and rich database of materials covering every era in the history of African-American voters, from the Colonial period through 2008, with charts and graphs to enhance the story.  Chapters on each historical period include supporting statistical data from both the North and South on registration, voter turnout, and electoral impact in addition to suffrage, enfranchisement and disenfranchisement, poll taxes, voting rights activism and the Voting Rights Act.  A wonderful resource for legal, political, and cultural history, the African American Electorate: A Statistical History is part of the CQ Press Electronic Library created by Congressional Quarterly, Inc.  It is available to all Hofstra students through the University portal.

To access this Axinn Library database from the Hofstra University website, start here.  Click on the "Research Databases" tab, then on "click here to browse the full A-Z list."  At the Hofstra portal login page, use your network login to proceed.  Then select "CQ The African American Electorate: A Statistical History" from the alphabetical list under "C".       

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

MLK Day

For those of you still insisting on living in a physical world, the bricks and mortar Library will be open on Monday, January 20 for Martin Luther King Day from 10am - 6pm.

I, of course, will be prowling the Web 24/7 (breaking for an occasional nap).

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Net Neutrality & Recent Court Decision: A FAQ

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down rules that the Federal Communications Commission adopted to protect the openness of the Internet.

What does this ruling, as well as the principles of Net neutrality that it affects, portend for the Internet user? Read more here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat