It may be a little too late in the semester to start working on your legal research paper this semester, but maybe you could get an early start for next semester. Maybe you are interested in writing a paper for publication. Bloomberg BNA’s United States Law Week is a great resource for getting ideas for scholarly legal writing. The United States Law Week has a Key Features section that lists the current United States Circuit Court splits. Circuit Court splits provide great opportunities to write about unsettled legal issues. Bloomberg BNA United States Law Week is available on the library’s website on the Subscription Databases webpage, and access is available to faculty and students. Here are a couple more websites that also contain information on circuit splits Circuit Splits: A blog about cases ripe for review and Split Circuits: A blog dedicated to tracking developments concerning splits among the federal circuit courts.
Author Archives: Jason Murray, JD
The oldest law library in the United States is a great resource for small firms and solo-practitioners!
The Jenkins Law Library located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is over 200 years old, but don’t let its age cause you to think that it is just a relic of the past. The Jenkins Law Library is still going strong and makes available a wealth of legal research tools and resources. Students, solo-practitioners, and law firms can become members of the law library and take advantage of the many databases and resources available. Even if you are not a member of the Jenkins Law Library, the law library offers services that may be useful to attorneys, such as legal research, copying, Shepardizing or Keyciting cases, and document delivery. The Jenkins Law Library is a great low cost alternative to other well-known legal information providers.
You can find out what articles are cited the most using HeinOnline.
As the semester begins to wind down, many students are working hard to finish their ALWR papers. During this time, students often come to me for help with properly citing articles discussed in their paper. Often, the students have multiple articles that discuss the same topic and issue, and they want to know how to find out which article has been cited the most. How can they find out? When using HeinOnline, students can simply enter both article citations in the search box, and when the PDF of the article appears, there is a HeinOnline ScholarCheck icon that appears at the top center of the page if the article has been cited. The ScholarCheck icon has a number beside it that indicates the number of times the article has been cited. Find out more about HeinOnline’s ScholarCheck by viewing their Wikipage-HeinOnline:ScholarCheck. You can also find out information about ScholarCheck on HeinOnline’s blog. You can get to HeinOnline by selecting the HeinOnline link from the Library’s subscription database page-remember if you are off-campus you must log-in to access HeinOnline.
Watch out for wireless parking meters!
A resident of Santa Monica, California alleges in a recent lawsuit against the city that newly installed wireless parking meters are causing her to experience numerous health problems. Some of her claimed ailments include ringing of the ears, tightness in her neck and back, and an ear infection. She has sued the city for a whopping 1.7 billion dollars! The next time you are feeling a little tightness in the neck or your ear is ringing you better check to see if there are any wireless parking meters around.
Some people are saying Skechers Shape-Ups not so safe!
Who knew wearing Skechers could cause serious injuries? That is the claim made by the Plaintiffs in three lawsuits filed against Skechers USA Inc., Skechers USA Inc., II, and Skechers Fitness Group. Check out this story about the case, which includes links to the the Plaintiffs’ Attorneys website and the Complaint numbers. You can find the Federal case filings by using PACER, the government’s Federal cased locator database.
School starts Monday; make the most of your weekend!
Time will become a precious commodity on Monday as classes begin for the fall semester, so make the most of your last couple of days without classes. Here are a few activities you can do this weekend. Saturday there is the Mega Talent Show downtown or check out Folio Weekly’s list of happenings this weekend. Finally, don’t miss out on the fun with the Jacksonville Suns, on Sunday they take on the Birmingham Barons.
The Fun Keeps Rolling Along!
Pauly Shore is coming to The Comedy Zone, 3130 Hartley Road, Ramada Inn, Jacksonville on June 22 and 23 at 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets for the show are $23 and $28. “Hey buddy”- don’t miss out on the laughs. If Pauly doesn’t suit your interests, how about the Jacksonville Suns? The Suns have a full line-up of home games this weekend. On Saturday, June 23 (ARod Bobblehead Giveaway) at 6:05 p.m. and on Sunday, June 24 (Military Appreciation) at 3:05 p.m. Is anything hotter than the Jacksonville Suns? If these happenings don’t sound like what you’re looking for, then check Folio Weekly’s online list of events happening this weekend. You’re sure to find something you’ll like! Have a great weekend!
Don’t say there’s nothing to do this weekend; check out these events!
As always, there are a lot of happenings going on around Jacksonville this weekend. How about heading out to the beach for the 22nd Annual George’s Music Springing the Blues Festival at Jax Beach. Make sure you check the schedule, so you don’t miss your favorite artist. Musicians will be playing all weekend, starting Friday night and ending Sunday evening. There is also a Running the Blues 5k on Saturday at 9:30am; race day registration is allowed. If visual art is more to your liking, then try the MOCA Jacksonville’s ArtFusion Sundays To Dye For event. Finally, enjoy arts and crafts and plenty of exhibits and music in Orange Park at the third annual Art & About: Neighborhood Art and Music Event on Saturday.
Lighten things up with Law Revue
That’s right–I said Law Revue not Law Review! Finals are fast approaching, so while you still have a little time, take a break from studying and check out some funny YouTube videos by various Law Revue organizations. Law Revues are organizations of students at law schools that do musical parodies, skits, digital videos, and sometimes even larger productions. Often, they satirize some aspect of law school or the law. To find some Law Revue videos, simply search for ‘YouTube law revue’ in Google. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of results to choose from. Have fun! Here are a couple I like from GW Law Revue. (Warning videos do contain explicit language!) You’ll be glad our library is not like this one, at least about bringing in food! 2008 GW Law Revue-Library 2008 GW Law Revue
Whales sue SeaWorld!
Courts are dealing with a whale of an issue–whether animals have constitutional protection under the 13th Amendment! The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld, naming five whales held at SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego as the plaintiffs. CNN and the BBC report the lawsuit claims a violation of the five whales’ 13th Amendment protections. You can see a copy of the complaint by going to the PETA’s Official blog under the post for October 11, 2011 (click the hyperlink “filing a lawsuit” for a PDF of the complaint).