Tired of Your Browser? Try These Alternatives

Have you wondered if Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome are your only browser choices?  There are actually many others to try.  Find some browser alternatives here, such as SRWare Iron, a security enhanced browser based on Chromium.  Another alternative is the privacy conscious browser DuckDuckGo, which promises not to track or report your internet information.  Read more about typical browser tracking here and why DuckDuckGo is different.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Have you looked at HeinOnline recently?

Journal students learn about HeinOnline because of the Law Journal Library.  This Library is contains more than 1,800 law and law-related periodicals. Coverage is from the first issue published for all periodicals and goes through the most-currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers.

But there are many more subscribed libraries available to our students.  Some of the other libraries are:
U.S. Statutes at Large
United States Code
Federal Register Library
U.S. Congressional Documents
U.S. Presidential Library
U.S. Supreme Court Library
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
New York Legal Research Library

and these are only a sample of the libraries.   In most cases the libraries go back to the date of inception of a publication.  BNA Bloomberg - LexisAdvance - WestlawNext do not.  The documents are in PDF.

HeinOnline is a tremendous resource and you should remember it.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Estate Planning and Copyright Stories

As you may know, reggae music legend Bob Marley, who died in 1981 from cancer at the age of 36, left a widow, many children, and corporations to manage his assets, but no will and therefore, no executor or administrator of his choosing.  Lawsuits stemming from disputes during the past 30-plus years have centered around the use of his name and likeness for commercial purposes, the distribution of assets to family members, and royalty rights.  The background story is related by attorneys Danielle and Andy Mayoras in a 2011 Forbes article.  Copyright disputes also plague Marley's music legacy, a corollary to the lack of  record keeping and clear legal documentation that clouds some of his 1960s Jamaican recordings. Marley-related litigation produced a decision this week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in a suit pitting Universal Music Group, Inc., against another distributor with rights that the court found "equally spotty."  Bloomberg has this story about the lawsuit; you can read the opinion here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Speaking of iPhones . . .

So after you download the U.S. Constitution app to your iPhone, you will likely get prompted to upgrade to iOS7.  For descriptions and reviews to help decide if you want to make the plunge, check out David Pogue's review in the New York Times and iMore.com (hat tip to our esteemed Library Director).  From all I have seen it looks like some good changes.  Give some sympathy to those of us from the dark ages with iPhones too old to upgrade.  (Yes, virtual cats have smartphones - how else would we watch our fur-based brethren's videos?)

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S. Constitution App

Tuesday, as you know, was Constitution Day. To celebrate that day, the U.S. Government Printing Office and the Library of Congress released a new app that makes the analysis and interpretation of Constitutional case law by Library of Congress experts freely accessible to anyone who has mobile device or tablet. Get the app here.

(Note that this version is for the iPhone only. An Android version is in development.)

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Federal Appeals Court Rules Facebook ‘Like’ Is Protected By the First Amendment

Today, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond reversed a lower court ruling in Bland v. Roberts that said simply "liking" a Facebook page was insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection. 

U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler wrote, "liking a political candidate’s campaign page communicates the user’s approval of the candidate and supports the campaign by associating the user with it.”. . . “[I]t is the Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one’s front yard, which the Supreme Court has held is substantive speech.” 

The Court issued its ruling in a lawsuit brought by former employees of a sheriff’s office who said they lost their jobs because they supported their boss’s opponent, partly by endorsing a campaign page on Facebook. Click here to read more.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Social Media Legal Issues

As an attorney, social media legal issues could be an increasingly important part of many aspects of litigation in your professional career.  Divorce is getting mixed up with Facebook, criminal law with Twitter and employment law with social media passwords of all types.

JDsupra.com has put together a list of some of the latest social media legal issues here.  These articles are an indication that social media law and litigation is here to stay!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Law Library Research Guides

We use LibGuides to create the aides for research assistance, study guides and useful resources.  The handouts in the rack near the Reference Desk are print outs of some of the guides available to our students through our website.

For basic information, we have guides for:
Finding Books
Finding Articles
Sources of the Law
and more

Examples of subject guides are:
Business Resources Online
Environmental Law & Due Diligence

Your friendly librarians have created more guides and working on more.  When you are not certain where to start your research, check to see if we have a useful guide.  You can see the entire list under Law Library Research Guides.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Wealthiest Members of Congress

This week Roll Call, one of the most respected publications covering Congress and now a free site, posted "50 Richest Members of Congress," a run-down of the financial worth of the 50 wealthiest members of the legislative branch and the sources of their wealth.  The results of this latest study, an annual project of Roll Call since 1990, includes a break down of financial assets and member profiles, with recent news coverage, for each of the 41 men and 9 women in this exclusive group. While the source of their wealth ranges from tech entrepreneurship to family trust funds, 18 of them hold a J.D.

Beyond this special report, Roll Call is a great source for law students and attorneys on the latest developments on Capitol Hill, unique news coverage of Congress, fundraising and seniority charts, and policy updates, with Roll Call blogs and free registration to receive daily updates on legal areas or policy issues of interest to you.   

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Where your tax $$ really go?

Now that Congress is once again deliberating on the budget and debt limit, it is interesting to see where the money is actually spent.   USASpending.gov does just that in incredible detail.    For example you can check out direct payments for student assistance in New York.  For an interesting overview, check out Summaries.   The database is quite sophisticated, so make sure to check out the informative FAQs.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat