Tag Archives: ALWR Research

Free Software for You – and its Good!

All of us have been inundated with offers of free software we can install on our phones, tablets, and laptops. I’ve gotten a little cynical about it: legal publishers are eager to offer free apps and browser extensions as a way of marketing themselves. Still, some of it is actually pretty useful. Lexis Advance and WestlawNext are available through proprietary apps that work well.

Occasionally, free software can even be great! How would you like the chance to download software that is used daily by virtually all the “AmLaw 100” law firms; software that would cost you approximately $400.00 for a single-user license?

You can. CaseMap is available through LexisNexis, and all students can download it from their LexisNexis homepage. After logging on, go to the “Free Downloads” tab, and then look under “Litigation Tools” for CaseMap. Once you install it, open it, and click on the CaseMap Quick Start Tutorial on the right hand panel to get started. Any questions? Your librarians are here to help.

Good Summer Reads!

Are you looking for some light summer reading? Nothing is better at the beach than a law book! Why read the latest trashy novel or hot biography when Android apps in one hour for lawyers  or Finding your voice in law school: mastering classroom cold calls, job interviews, and other verbal challenges is available? You can find all your summer reading needs through the Coastal catalog including  these new acquisitions. Please shake the sand out before returning them.

Continue reading →

Climate Change Findings and Figures

No matter where you fall on the hot-button topic of climate change there is no denying it’s an important issue.  The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a summary of its most recent set of findings and figures in March.  The WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories (as of January 1, 2013). It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. Established in 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations in 1951 for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.

As weather, climate and the water cycles know no national boundaries, international cooperation at a global scale is essential for the development of meteorology and operational hydrology as well as to reap the benefits from their application. WMO provides the framework for such international cooperation.

This summary and website can lead you to a ton of other international sources on climate and environmental law.  Use the list of topics at the top of WMO’s home page or the facets on the left to find relevant information that may be more difficult to get to simply by using the web site search box.  Evaluating and making use of all access points (also known as finding aids) are important research processes.

Finals Season is Approaching

Finals are coming faster than you know it.  Check out the newest additions to the library’s collection and see if there is anything that might help you study for exams or finish up that ALWR. 

TITLE CALL # LOCATION
Civil procedure in a nutshell / by Mary Kay Kane. KF8841 .K36 2013 fca,fcb
Climate change and Indigenous peoples : the search for legal remedies / edited by Randall S. Abate, Elizabeth Ann Kronk. K3247 .C55 2013 fcg  
Evidence / Christopher B. Mueller, Laird C. Kirkpatrick. KF8935 .M836 2012 fcg  
Fighting for their lives : inside the experience of capital defense attorneys / Susannah Sheffer. KF9227.C2 S54 2013 fcg  
Global environmental governance : law and regulation for the 21st century / Louis J. Kotzé. K3585 .K68 2012 fcg  
Injustice on appeal : the United States Courts of Appeals in crisis / William M. Richman, William L. Reynolds. KF8750 .R53 2013 fcg  
Inside civil procedure : what matters and why / Howard M. Erichson. KF8841 .E75 2012 fca,fcb
International logistics : the management of international trade operations / Pierre A. David, Richard D. Stewart. HF5415.7 .D38 2010 fcg  
The lawyer bubble : a profession in crisis / Steven J. Harper. KF300 .H3687 2013 fcg  
Logistics and supply chain management : creating value-added networks / Martin Christopher. HD38.5 .C46 2005 fcg  
A manual of style for contract drafting / Kenneth A. Adams. KF807 .A33 2013 fcg  
Multistate bar exam (MBE) review. KF303 .M847 2010 fcb  
Multistate performance test (MPT) review. KF303 .M855 fcb  
A practical guide to software licensing for licensees and licensors / H. Ward Classen. KF3024.C6 C56 2013 fcg  
Principles of international environmental law / Philippe Sands, Jacqueline Peel with Adriana Fabra, Ruth MacKenzie. K3585 .S265 2012 fcg  
Property / Steven L. Emanuel. KF570.Z9 E43 2012 fca,fcb
Settlement negotiation techniques in family law : a guide to improved tactics and resolution / Gregg Herman. KF535 .H47 2013 fcg  
Siegel’s criminal procedure : essay and multiple-choice questions and answers / Brian N. Siegel, Lazar Emanuel   revised by Christian M. Halliburton. KF9619.5 .S543 2012 fca,fcb
Supply chain management : a logistics perspective / John J. Coyle … [et al.]. HD38.5 .C69 2009 fcg  
The terror courts : rough justice at Guantanamo Bay / Jess Bravin. KF7661 .B73 2013 fcg  
Transportation : a supply chain perspective / John J. Coyle … [et al.]. HE151 .C88 2011 fcg  
Understanding student rights in schools : speech, religion, and privacy in educational settings / Bryan R. Warnick. KF4150 .W37 2013 fcg  
Wills, trusts, and estates : examples and explanations / Gerry W. Beyer. KF755.Z9 B49 2012 fcb  

Are you looking for a topic to write a paper about, or are you just interested in legal issues that courts disagree over?

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.

Are YOU Ready to Celebrate Sunshine Week?

If your response is, “What is sunshine week?” you are probably not alone.  Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.  This is an important topic because access to the law is really important to lawyers, law students, and law librarians.  Check out all the great FREE legal information available on FDSys.  The Library of Congress makes finding legislative and congressional information a breeze with Thomas.  Here is an example of how an open government can force a public figure to answer for their use of public funds.  The list of reasons supporting open government and freedom of information is huge.  What reasons can you think of?

In the Library this Week (March 4th – 10th)

- ALWR Research Workshops;
- Researching Statutes Workshops;
- Advanced Bluebooking for Memos Workshops;
- Earplugs by request during midterms, ask at the Circulation Desk.

Library Spring Break Hours (March 8th -17th)
Friday (8th)               7:30am – 6:00pm
Saturday (9th)         10:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday (10th)         10:00am – 6:00pm
Monday (11th)        10:00am – 6:00pm
Tuesday (12th)       10:00am – 6:00pm
Wednesday (13th)  10:00am – 6:00pm
Thursday (14th)      10:00am – 6:00pm
Friday (15th)           10:00am – 6:00pm
Saturday (16th)       10:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday (17th)          Regular Hours

Wondering what to get your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day?

Many law students are on a budget so they need to be creative for Valentine’s Day. Why not read some poetry to your loved one or, better yet, read to them from one of the new books the Coastal Library just received!

Take a look:

TITLE CALL # LOCATION
All the missing souls : a personal history of the war crimes tribunals / David Scheffer. KF373.S338 A3 2012 General Collection
Covenants not to compete : a state-by-state survey / Brian M. Malsberger   board of review associate editors, David J. Carr,  Arnold H. Pedowitz, Eric Akira Tate. KF3463 .C68 2012 General Collection
From the closet to the altar : courts, backlash, and the struggle for same-sex marriage / Michael Klarman. KF539 .K58 2013 General Collection
It’s the way you say it : becoming articulate, well-spoken, and clear / Carol A. Fleming. P95 .F435 2010 General Collection
The legal writing survival guide / Rachel H. Smith. KF250 .S625 2012 General Collection
Lincoln’s ladder to the presidency : the eighth judicial circuit / Guy C. Fraker   with a foreword by Michael Burlingame. KF368.L52 F73 2012 General Collection
Negotiate like the pros : a top sports negotiator’s lessons for making deals, building relationships, and getting what you want / Kenneth L. Shropshire. HD58.6 .S574 2009 General Collection
Patent, copyright & trademark / Richard Stim. KF2980 .E44 2012 Course Reserves
Phake : the deadly world of falsified and substandard medicines / Roger Bate. HD9665.5 .B38 2012 General Collection
Scholarly writing : ideas, examples, and execution / Jessica L. Clark, Kristen E. Murray. KF250 .C528 2012 General Collection
Typography for lawyers / Matthew Butterick   [foreword by Bryan A. Garner]. Z246 .B98 2010 Reference Collection
US international lawyers in the interwar years : a forgotten crusade / Hatsue Shinohara. KF297 .S43 2012 General Collection
Writing to win : the legal writer / Steven D. Stark. KF250 .S8 2012 Course Reserves

Do you need to keep track of a research subject?

If you are writing an ALWR this semester, there may be new developments on your ALWR topic before the due date. Your professor will expect that you research your topic diligently throughout the semester, and deal with any new developments appropriately in your paper.

If your ALWR paper concerns doping in sports, you probably heard about Lance Armstrong’s confession as it happened. But what if your paper concerns proposed SEC regulations, or the activity of the Senate Banking Committee? You can’t count on this material being big news, and you do not have the time or inclination to repeat the same searches in the same search engines every day. You might be thinking, “If only I could arrange for news on my topic to be delivered to me automatically!”

Congratulations. You can set up alerts to do exactly that. Go to the Google Altert page here: http://www.google.com/alerts, and fill out the simple form. Lexis and Westlaw also provide this service. See instructions on how to set up alerts in Westlaw here, and in Lexis here.