More On Swine Influenza

To follow up on our previous post,

Due to the recent global outbreak of Swine Influenza, EBSCO Publishing and the DynaMed Editors have made the main elements of the DynaMed clinical summary for Swine Influenza free to health care providers and institutions throughout the world. The DynaMed topic on Swine Influenza consolidates information from multiple sources for health care providers to stay current with recommendations for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating patients with flu-like illnesses during this outbreak. DynaMed Editors will continue to monitor information and update this topic as needed throughout this global crisis.

Click here to access.

Wake-Up Call on Slipshod Search Terms--Is Google Making You a Lazy Researcher?

This article from New York Law Journal reports on a recent case where the judge admonished the lawyers for their inability to do efficient keyword searching to retrieve relevant emails and other electronically stored information (ESI). Judge Andrew J. Peck, U.S. Magistrate Judge (S.D.N.Y.), said this

should serve as a wake-up call to the Bar in this District about the need for careful thought, quality control, testing, and cooperation with opposing counsel in designing search terms or "keywords" to be used to produce emails or other electronically stored information ("ESI"). While this message has appeared in several cases from outside this Circuit, it appears that the message has not reached many members of our Bar.

He goes on to say that this

is just the latest example of lawyers designing keyword searches in the dark, by the seat of the pants, without adequate (indeed, here, apparently without any) discussion with those who wrote the emails.

And concludes with this

Electronic discovery requires cooperation between opposing counsel and transparency in all aspects of preservation and production of ESI. Moreover, where counsel are using keyword searches for retrieval of ESI, they at a minimum must carefully craft the appropriate keywords, with input from the ESI's custodians as to the words and abbreviations they use, and the proposed methodology must be quality control tested to assure accuracy in retrieval and elimination of "false positives." It is time that the Bar - even those lawyers who did not come of age in the computer era - understand this.

I'll put in a plug here for our podcast on this topic. Lucie Olejnikova and Vicky Gannon's Food for Though: Generating Search Terms discusses some helpful ideas on how to generate search terms for your research.

Get Notified About New CALI Lessons

CALI, the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction is an online services that most of you might be familiar with. For those who are not, The CALI mission reads as follows:

it is a services that advances global legal education through computer technology, employs research, collaboration, and leadership to assist a diverse audience in the effective use of this technology in legal education, and promotes access to justice through the use of computer technology.

CALI offers various services among which are CALI lessons. These lessons are divided by what is recommended for First-year law students, and what is recommended for Second- and Third-year law students. Most likely, your law school subscribes and all you need is to contact your librarian to obtain the authorization code, if you already have not done so.

CALI now offers a new service - to be notified every time a new CALI lesson is added to the list. You can receive these updates via email subscription or add RSS feed to your reader, such as Google reader, or to your Outlook RSS Feeds. Stay Informed and let us know what your think!

Legal Workshop - Legal Scholarship in Lay Terms

The Legal Workshop is a website providing an online forum for legal scholarship from the top law journals in the country. If you are looking for a concise summaries of law review articles written in plain English, the Legal Workshop might be exactly what you are looking for. Current law review members are:

• Cornell Law Review
• Duke Law Journal
• Georgetown Law Journal
• New York University Law Review
• Northwestern University Law Review
• Stanford Law Review
• University of Chicago Law Review

Via Law.com,

The site aims to bring content from some of the most prestigious law reviews in the nation to a wider audience by offering condensed version of articles translated from scholarly language into plain English, and at no cost.

The New York University Law Review managing editor Matthew Lawrence who helped launch this website said:

Our goal was to provide free legal scholarship in a format accessible to laypersons.

The Legal Workshop website allows you to browse by a topic and/or a journal. You can subscribe to receive all new updates via email and/or by adding a RSS feed to your reader, such as Google Reader, or to your Outlook RSS feeds. You can also subscribe to the user-submitted comments feed.

More On Somali Pirates

We posted about the Somali Pirates twice already but there is a need to give them the attention yet again. This post is to follow up on the Pace Law Library December 2008 newsletter written by Jack McNeil, Associate Law Library Director, and on the Pace Law Library Blog post How To Defend a 21st Century Pirate, by Cynthia Pittson, the Head of Reference Department. The Legal Talk Network has a podcast discussing the prosecution of a pirate in an episode titled Legal Case Against a Pirate. Sit back and enjoy!

The first prosecution of a pirate in the U.S. in 100 years! The world watched closely as Richard Phillips, Captain of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship was rescued, after being held hostage by four Somali pirates. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome piracy law expert, Professor Samuel P. Menefee, Maury Fellow at University of Virgina’s Center for Ocean Law and Policy and Attorney Joseph R. McFaul from Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP and a retired Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, to explore the legal issues on the high seas surrounding the Somali pirates, the future of the captured pirate and how this case could be a deterrent in other incidents of piracy.

GovBenefits.gov Is On Twitter

GovBenefits.gov is the official benefits website of the U.S. government, with information on over 1,000 benefit and assistance programs. You can subscribe via your email to receive updates, or now you can follow GovBenefits. gov on Twitter. There only are 2 updates so far. So, lets see! Stay informed!

Besson's & Bertrand's Environmental Film Project

Via Google Blog,

an exciting new project that taps into the power of YouTube and Google Maps to spread the word about the state of our planet. Luc Besson's and Yann-Arthus Betrand's 90 minute full-length film "Home" will exclusively be available online on YouTube for English, French, Spanish and German–speaking countries beginning June 5, 2009 — just in time for the 37th World Environment Day.

The authors created a YouTube Channel dedicated specifically to the HOME project. You can access some previews to get an idea about what to expect. For example,

2009 Swine Flu

The USA.gov Home Page has been updated with a new link to Swine Flu. Find guidance, travel notices, and other information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about human cases of swine flu in the U.S.

Also, if you have not done so yet! You can receive daily updates from the USA.gov Home Page via e-mail. Information about how to subscribe for daily updates can be found here. You can also receive updates via RSS feeds for the following topics:

• Gov Gab Blog
• News and Features Updates from USA.gov
• Popular Government Questions from USA.gov
• Money News from Puerto Rico
• Health News from Puerto Rico
• Consumer News from Pueblo RSS Feed

Stay Informed!

Bar Associations on LinkedIn

LinkedIn? Have you heard of it yet? LinkedIn is, yet another, social networking tool that is currently used by over 35 million professionals exchanging information, ideas and opportunities. The difference is that this is more of a professional networking tool. One can sign up for a free account and post a resume, professional achievements, and goals. Potential employees look and find jobs, and get involved in new professional opportunities. Employers post jobs and look for future employees. It is a version of a 'modern Rolodex'. LinkedIn markets itself as a service that allows you to:

• stay informed about your contacts and industry
• find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals
• control your professional identity online

And of course, groups, associations, organizations, companies, and clubs don't stay behind; they too have their own presence on LinkedIn. So, it comes at no surprise that Bar Associations are on LinkedIn as well. Via Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, here is a list of International, National, State, and Local Bar Associations that are on LinkedIn. Stay or get connected and let us know what you think?!

Black's Law Dictionary on iPhone

Via Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, West announced the release of an application that allows Black's Law Dictionary to be available on iPhone and iPod Touch. The application features the most recent 8th edition of the dictionary. The Black's Law application is available for purchase through the iPhone Apple Store for $49.99.

See the You Tube Video!

Tips for Better Legal Writing

The (new) legal writer, once again, has an excellent post with tips and hints regarding better legal writing. This post features the current issue of Headnotes, the Dallas Bar Association's newsletter. The entire newsletter has an appellate theme and is packed with tips for appellate trial lawyers and appellate brief writers. To highlight just couple, take a look at the Questions on Quotations section on page 6, by Justice Jim Moseley, on how to effectively use quotations, or the 20 Tips for Writing Shorter Briefs on page 11, by Scott P. Stolley, on how to write your briefs shorter but still compelling. Any thoughts or comments?

Disbarment for Student Debt?

Canadian blog, Law is Cool, wrote about a Houston-based lawyer who has been disbarred for unpaid student debt. The ex-attorney, Frank Santulli, has carried US$67,000 in outstanding loans since 1998 and failed to follow a plan to repay them. So the Texas court decided to take his license. Result? Now he can't work at all. What a plan? My question is, how is he going to pay now that he doesn't have a job? Mr. Santulli plans to appeal the decision. Let's see what happens then. Any thoughts?

Read also:
Lawyer Disbarred for Student Debt
Houston Lawyer Loses License Because of Failure to Pay Debts

How to Defend a 21st Century Pirate

Pace Law Professor Sasha Greenawalt is quoted in this article in New York Magazine's Daily Intel for April 23. Prof. Greenawalt discusses defenses that may be available to Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, the age-indeterminate Somali pirate who is charged with piracy for his role in boarding the Maersk Alabama with three other men and taking the ship's captain hostage.

Prof. Greenawalt discusses protection offered by the Geneva Conventions (Muse as an injured combatant and POW), age (Muse's age is in question), and the victimization defense (Muse as an ignorant victim), but Prof. Greenawalt says that

ignorance and victimization are far from foolproof arguments in the American justice system.

The authors of the article add that "blaming it on the rum probably won’t work either."

Reliability of Wikipedia

Are you or were you thinking about citing Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, in your memo, essay, report, or not to mention in your legal document, such as a brief? Hm, take a moment and think twice.

A New Jersey judge who allowed a lawyer to plug an evidentiary gap with a Wikipedia page has been reversed on the ground that the online encyclopedia that "anyone can edit" is not a reliable source of information.

As stated in the ruling of Palisades Collection, L.L.C. v. Graubard, No. L-3394-06, 2009 WL 1025176 (N.J. Super. A.D. April 17, 2009),

[I]t is entirely possible for a party in litigation to alter a Wikipedia article, print the "article and thereafter offer it in support of any given position," an appeals court held. "Such a malleable source of information is inherently unreliable and clearly not one 'whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned," such as would support judicial notice under New Jersey Evidence Rule 201(b)(3).

Read more about this at:
Wikipedia Too Malleable to Be Reliable Evidence
Jersey Court Rejects Wikipedia Evidence
Wikipedia is not reliable?
The Whacking of Wikipedia, 123
Wikipedia Too Malleable...

Pace Law Library New Acquisitions RSS Feed

Would you like to know what new books and other materials our Pace Law Library acquire? An updated list of all Pace Law Library acquisitions can now be accessed via our new RSS feed, http://innopac.pace.edu/feeds/new-titles-law-library.xml. You can add it to your reader, such as Google Reader, or you can access the list by clicking on the 'New Library Acquisitions' link, under Collection title, from our law library home page. Thank you Jindi!

Any easier to keep track?! I'd think so. Enjoy!

Exam Time

In addition to the excellent LibGuide for First-Year Law Students (referenced in an earlier post) created by Cynthia, don't forget about the Law Library podcast, Food For Thought: Exam Prep that was created to help you prepare for the exams.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

Guide for First-Year Students

Just in time for exams, we've updated and reformatted our guide for 1Ls. It includes books, websites, DVDs, blogs, and podcasts on survival skills, contracts, torts, criminal law, property, legal research, legal writing, and exam taking. The exam skills page is useful for upper level students as well.

Recycle! Recycle! Recycle!

Via BeSpecific, Recycle Old Cellphones and Rechargeable Batteries,

"The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) is a non-profit, public service organization dedicated to rechargeable battery recycling. Founded by the rechargeable battery industry in 1994, RBRC’s mission is to promote the recycling of used rechargeable batteries found in many cordless electronic consumer products such as, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, cordless power tools, camcorders, and two-way radios. In pursuit of its mission, RBRC also collects old cell phones. RBRC's public education campaign and rechargeable battery and cell phone recycling program – Call2Recycle® – is the result of the industry's determination to conserve natural resources and prevent rechargeable batteries from entering the solid waste stream."

Yelling at Law Clerk? Think Twice!

Thinking about being rude toward judge's law clerk? Well, think twice! Via Legal Blog Watch, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision to disbar an attorney for one year because he yelled at a law clerk over the phone.

Mr. Moity referenced a telephone message from the court which he acknowledged that he had not returned. Indeed, Ms. Blanke had placed two telephone calls to Mr. Moity in the days before the conference, one on Tuesday, September 19 and one on Wednesday, September 20. When Mr. Moity mentioned those phone calls, Ms. Blanke confirmed that she had indeed called him, and that both messages specifically referenced the Rule 16 conference. At that point, Mr. Moity started yelling and asking, in a very angry tone, whether Ms. Blanke had specifically included in her messages to his office that he was supposed to appear at the Rule 16 conference. Ms. Blanke asked Mr. Moity to calm down, and then asked if he was suggesting that it was her responsibility to call him and remind him about the conference. Mr. Moity stated he was not implying that, but then started questioning Ms. Blanke, in what she perceived to be a very ugly tone, why she hadn’t done so, since she was “already calling anyway.”

Red the full post.

World Digital Library

The World Digital Library will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.

National libraries from around the world, including the Library of Congress, have contributed to the project.

Pace Law Library Podcast: Fight For Wrongfully Convicted

Join us for another Pace Law Library Podcast, available at the library's Podcast site. This time, our guests were Adele Bernhard, Associate Professor of Law, and second year law students at Pace School of Law, Marianito Mabutas, Jr. and Vanity Muniz. Please join Prof. Bernhard, J.R., and Vanity for a captivating discussion about the experiences, challenges, and rewards of working on real cases and representing real people who have been convicted but claim to be innocent. Enjoy the Fight For Wrongfully Convicted.

Use of Open Wi-Fi

Via Legal Blog Watch, with a bit of a delay, this post by Carolyn Elefant discusses the use of open Wi-Fi and the question if such use should or should not be criminalized. For example, when traveling, lots of use need/want to check our e-mails. So, a quick search for open Wi-Fi will allow us to connect to the Internet (just to check our e-mail) without realizing we just might have committed a crime.

At present, most federal and state laws do not explicitly criminalize unauthorized use of an open Wi-Fi network. However, there are many laws designed to outlaw hacking that prohibit unauthorized access to computers -- and these laws could be construed to criminalize unauthorized access to an open Wi-Fi network.

Also check out Legal Implications of Wi-Fi Usage, at Computer Technology Review. Any thoughts, ideas, opinions, comments?

Cornel West at Pace Law School

Pace Law School was honored to have Cornel West, Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University's Center for African American Studies, deliver the annual Dyson Lecture on April 16. Dr. West spoke to a packed house in the Moot Court Room on the Age of Obama. He was insightful, provocative, and inspirational. The video is available here.

Pace Law Professors David Dorfman and Randolph McLaughlin taught a seminar on the work of Dr. West as a champion of social justice to seventeen Pace Law students this semester. They were in the audience, as were many Pace Law students, faculty, and staff along with members of the public.

What struck me most about Dr. West? Watching him talk to the people who approached him before and after his lecture--he gave his full attention to each person, even if it was just for a short conversation.

Pirate Bay Operators Convicted in Sweden

The operators of the file sharing site Pirate Bay were convicted of violating Sweden's copyright law. Reuters reports that

Four men linked to The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing websites, were each jailed for a year on Friday for breaching copyright and ordered to pay 30 million Swedish crowns ($3.58 million) in compensation.

Pirate Bay doesn't store the files, but uses torrent technology to allow users to swap files. Video statements from the defendants are available here. More information about the trial, verdict, and appeal is available here.

DOJ Releases Bush Administration Memos Authorizing the Use of Torture

The Justice Dept. released these memos from the Office of Legal Counsel, written by ex-DOJ lawyers Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury. In the DOJ press release Attorney General Eric Holder said, in part

"The President has halted the use of the interrogation techniques described in these opinions, and this administration has made clear from day one that it will not condone torture . . . We are disclosing these memos consistent with our commitment to the rule of law."

The press release continues

Holder also stressed that intelligence community officials who acted reasonably and relied in good faith on authoritative legal advice from the Justice Department that their conduct was lawful, and conformed their conduct to that advice, would not face federal prosecutions for that conduct.

Jay Bybee is now a federal judge, appointed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by George Bush.

Legal Blog Watch is Looking for Help

For all of you out there who like to write, blog, or just share your ideas, Legal Blog Watch, an excellent blog that has been around since about 2004, is looking for additional and/or guest bloggers.

John Bringardner writes:

[W]e're putting up a help wanted sign for a few good guest bloggers. Whether you've already got a blog or not; whether you're in BigLaw, solo practice, law school or somewhere in between; if you were blogging here you'd be home by now.

If you think you've got what it takes, or you'd like to nominate someone else who does, drop us a line at legalblogwatch@incisivemedia.com. Take a look at these handy guest-blogging guidelines first for an idea of what you're getting into and what we'll expect from you. We need folks who can turn around a couple of thoughtful posts on the legal news of the day for us every once in a while -- a little like Blawg Review, but more sporadic and without the need for a highbrow theme.

Check out the full announcement!

Draft of Cybersecurity Act of 2009

Via Be Specific, the staff working draft of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 is available here.

The draft of the act starts with,

To ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cyber security defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.

And CDT states,

A cybersecurity bill introduced April 01, 2009 in the Senate would give the federal government extraordinary power over private sector Internet services, applications and software. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would, for example, give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system or network on national security grounds.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or questions?

The End of Lawyers?

With a little bit of a delay, oops, via Legal Blog Watch, Robert J. Ambrogi writes about the keynote address by Richard Susskind, the legal technology consultant, adviser, author and Big Thinker, at the ABA Techshow in Chicago.

His talk was based on his new book, "The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services," which followed from his 1996 book, "The Future of Law." His key point was that the delivery of legal services will see rapid and fundamental change -- not that lawyers need to make it change, but that change will come and is coming despite us.

Robert Ambrogi gave a really concise summary of the address emphasizing the fundamental change within legal profession. It is worth reading. The full post is available here.

Social Networking = Lower Grades?

Law Blog Watch reports on this study of undergraduates done by Ohio State University:

Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0. The study authors aren't ready to say that using Facebook necessarily leads to less studying and hence, lower grades, just that there is a relationship between the two.

What do you think? Does this hold true for law students as well? Will too much Facebooking have a negative impact on your grades?

Increase in Number of People Representing Themselves in Court

The New York Times published this article on the increase in self representation among individuals in civil cases during the current financial downturn in the economy.

Financially pressed people . . . are representing themselves more and more in court, according to judges, lawyers and courthouse officials across the country, raising questions of how just the outcomes are and clogging courthouses already facing their own budget woes as clerks spend more time helping people unfamiliar with forms, filings and fees.

There is no national system that tracks the number of individuals who represent themselves in court, but in New York

[I]n the first six weeks of this year, nearly 95 percent of litigants in paternity and support cases did not have a lawyer, compared with 88 percent in all of 2008.

And in California

[T]he portion of plaintiffs without a lawyer rose by 22 percent, while defendants representing themselves rose by 36 percent.

This trend has put a tremendous strain on court personnel, and lines at self help centers at courthouses around the country have grown. The article notes that

Courthouse workers also say that people are representing themselves in more complicated cases, involving divisions of complex assets, home foreclosures, houses worth less than a mortgage balance and combinations of these and other problems. Such cases in the past were more likely to involve a lawyer.

NY Model Code for Administrative Law Judges

New York Law Journal has this article on the new proposed model code for administrative law judges. It was developed by the New York State Bar Association, and submitted to the Legislature and state agencies for adoption. The model code consists of five canons

designed to serve as ethical signposts for some 2,000 administrative law judges employed directly by state agencies or working for them on a contract basis in the same way that New York's Code of Judicial Conduct guides the conduct of judges or the Rules of Professional Conduct defines ethical professional behavior by attorneys.

The NYSBA Subcommittee on the Administrative Law Judiciary developed the proposed model code over the past two years.

Recovery.org

Not to be confused with the official government site devoted to the same purpose, recovery.org, from Onvia,

was developed to bring unprecedented transparency and accountability to recovery spending and ensure that every business, regardless of size, has equal access to the projects associated with the recovery efforts. On this site you will find real-time data, maps, and graphs detailing the spending activity associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Onvia tracks "every dime" of spending by Federal, State and Local government agencies, and Recovery.org allows you to explore these activities in great detail by State, by Congressional District, and by Community.

It includes a pull-down menu that lets you look into projects in your city and state--currently, a number of cities in New York have applied for stimulus money for bridge and road improvement and rehabilitation projects.

2008 Internet Crime Report

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center release the 2008 Internet Crime Report.

In December 2003, the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) was renamed the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) to better reflect the broad character of such criminal matters having a cyber (Internet) nexus. The 2008 Internet Crime Report is the eighth annual compilation of information on complaints received and referred by the IC3 to law enforcement or regulatory agencies for appropriate action. From January 1, 2008 – December 31, 2008, the IC3 website received 275,284 complaint submissions. This is a (33.1%) increase when compared to 2007 when 206,884 complaints were received. These filings were composed of complaints primarily related to fraudulent and non-fraudulent issues on the Internet.

Legal Blawgs Archive

The Law Library of Congress has launched a Legal Blawgs Archive. It began harvesting legal blawgs in 2007. The collection has grown to more than one hundred items covering a broad cross section of legal topics. The following are some of the legal topics: Antitrust, Business, Commercial & Corporate Law, Civil Procedure, Constitutional law, Courts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Family Law, Government, Administrative Law and Politics, Intellectual Property, International & Comparative Law, Law Review, Legal Ethics, Miscellaneous, Taxation, and Technology & Law.

Economic Recovery Resources by ABA

Amid economic downturn that has also impacted the legal profession, the ABA (American Bar Association) launched a website called Economic Recovery Resources, providing guidance, support and advice regarding job search /networking, career transitioning, savings, insurance and CLE, practice management, professional development, stress management, and all resources.

Guide to Free and Low Cost Resources for Legal Research

What will you do after graduation when you don't have free access to Westlaw and Lexis? Check out our guide to free and low cost resources for legal research and find reliable resources for case law, statutory law, regulations, foreign and international law, and even some tips for book research.

Some Relief for NYC Public Defenders

The recent budget bill passed by the New York State legislature has a provision that caps the caseload for public defenders in New York City. The New York Times writes that

Under the law, New York State’s chief administrative judge would be required to establish new caseload standards for public defenders by April 1, 2010. The judiciary would then have four years to phase in the limits and ensure proper funding. Despite the state’s grim economic condition, the judiciary’s budget for the current fiscal year remained stable at $2.57 billion.

Public defenders in large cities hope that this law serves as a model for the rest of the country. Read the rest of the story here.

How About Electronic Discovery?!

Via Legal Blog Watch, Canadian Justice at the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, D. M. Brown, decided in Leduc v. Roman, [2009] CanLII 6838, CarswellOnt 843 (ON Sup. Ct.) that clients must produce information posted on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and other similar social media sites, even where they have blocked their accounts from public access, as a part of discovery process.

Leduc involved a personal injury case in which the plaintiff claimed damages for loss of enjoyment as a result of defendant's negligence. At some point in discovery, the defendant learned that Leduc maintained a Facebook account and sought production of Leduc's Facebook pages. The discovery master denied the motion, finding that the defendant failed to establish the relevance of the Facebook pages to the question of whether Leduc's enjoyment of life had been diminished. In addition, the master expressed some concerns regarding Leduc's privacy. On review, Judge Brown disagreed.

Read the full post and let us know your thoughts!

How and Where Are You Getting Your Songs?

Via Legal Blog Watch, U.S. sides with RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in filesharing case. Read the entire post here.

Purchase a song online and it will cost you, at most, 99 cents. Download the song via filesharing and it can cost you anywhere from $750 to $30,000. That is the range of statutory damages allowed under federal law for copyright infringement. Can so disproportionate a penalty be constitutional? In a brief filed yesterday in a filesharing case pending in U.S. District Court in Boston, the U.S. Justice Department says yes.

Pace Law Library New Acquisitions: February 2009

The latest issue of Pace Law Library's new acquisitions list is now available. The list includes links to Google Books' reviews of titles when available.

Belated Happy Birthday to G-mail!

With a little bit of a delay, HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-MAIL!

It has been five years since G-mail has been in our lives. On April 1, 2004 Google launched G-mail. Read the official Google Blog post.

Using Google to Search? Enjoy the Result Page Improvements!

With a little bit of a delay, via Google Blog, Google has improved its result page. Google rolled out out two new improvements to Google search. The first offers an expanded list of useful related searches and the second is the addition of longer search result descriptions -- both of which help guide users more effectively to the information they need.

More and better search refinements
We're deploying a new technology that can better understand associations and concepts related to your search, and one of its first applications lets us offer you even more useful related searches (the terms found at the bottom, and sometimes at the top, of the search results page).

Longer snippets
When you do a search on Google, each result we give you starts with a dark blue title and is followed by a few lines of text (what we call a "snippet"), which together give you an idea of what each page is about. When you enter a longer query, with more than three words, regular-length snippets may not give you enough information and context. In these situations, we now increase the number of lines in the snippet to provide more information and show more of the words you typed in the context of the page.

Martindale-Hubbell Connected BETA

Martindale-Hubbell, the premier global network for lawyers is introducing professional networking site for lawyers. Join Martindale-Hubbell Connected, the online professional network– designed exclusively for legal professionals– that leverages the unsurpassed reach of the Martindale-Hubbell database of more than one million lawyers.

Expand your professional network– Connect with the people you know and the people your connections know to expand your network.
Get "just-in-time", trusted answers– Tap into the community to securely ask questions or discuss a pressing issue of law.
Demonstrate thought leadership– Share your knowledge with a global audience on everything related to your practice area or the legal profession.

Let us know what you think!

Gerber Glass Building Closed

ANNOUNCEMENT per Prof. Marie S. Newman, Director of the Law Library

The Gerber-Glass Building will be closed tomorrow, Saturday April 4, 2009, for the installation of a new transformer. During the installation, there will be no electric power to the building. The rest of the campus will not be affected. We hope the work will be completed by 5:00 PM, but cannot be sure exactly when it will be possible to reopen the building. Security will reopen the building as soon as possible after the transformer is installed and is online again. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Stay tuned for any updates!

Bookbag to Briefcase Podcast

On March 24, 2009 the Pace Law Library hosted Bookbag to Briefcase program that was co-sponsored by the Pace Law Library, Center for Career Development office at Pace Law School, Lexis Nexis and Westlaw. The program was a success and you missed it! But don't panic! The entire presentation was recorded. You can listen to the podcast now as it is available on the Pace Law Library Podcast site. Check it out, enjoy, and let us know what you think!

Project Runway Litigation Settled

For the past year, the Weinstein Company and NBC Universal have been battling over the rights to air the fashion reality show Project Runway, delaying the sixth season which has been filmed and is awaiting airing. Weinstein Company, which owns the show, sold it to Lifetime network, and NBC Universal sued and obtained an injunction in New York State Supreme Court. The New York Times writes that

The Weinstein Company acknowledged that it had improperly sold the show to the Lifetime Channel, without giving NBC Universal a right to match the offer to keep it on its own Bravo cable network.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal have details of the settlement. Lifetime plans to air the sixth season of Project Runway this summer.